A white police officer in South Carolina has been suspended after he was filmed repeatedly using the N-word in a confrontation with a black man.
The incident unfolded on Saturday outside Bar None in Columbia, where Sergeant Chad Walker and other officers were called to enforce a governor’s order banning the sale of alcohol after 11pm.
As the officers were outside telling patrons to disperse, one man referred to Walker using the n-word, according to the Columbia Police Department.
A witness then began recording video which showed another man telling Walker: ‘You’re talking to these people of color as if they’re less than human.’
‘People of color,’ Walker replied before pointing at someone off camera and saying: ‘That gentleman right there who called me a n*****? That guy just called me a n*****.’
Several patrons standing nearby immediately reacted in disbelief at the officer’s use of the racial slur, saying: ‘Are you serious?’ and ‘Can you stop saying that word please?’
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Columbia Police Sergeant Chad Walker was suspended after video showed him repeatedly using the N-word in a confrontation with a black man outside a bar on Saturday night
The video begins with a man confronting Walker about how he is speaking to ‘people of color’ outside the Bar None in Columbia. Walker then points to someone off camera and says: ‘That gentleman right there who called me a n*****?’
The man that Walker pointed at then enters the frame and tells the officer that he never called him the n-word.
‘Actually you did, it’s on body cam. Try again,’ Walker says.
The man continues insisting that he didn’t use the word as an increasingly frustrated Walker snaps back: ‘Yes you did. You got mad that I told you you couldn’t drink your drink and you called me that word.
‘When I was called that, I can’t say it back?’
Someone in the crowd then calls out: ‘You’re white!’ to which Walker replies: ‘Who cares what color I am? He called me a word.’
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As the man turns to walk away, Walker repeats the slur again: ‘All you’re doing is calling me n*****. If you’d like to call yourself ignorant, keep saying that.’
He then tells someone in the crowd to look up the definition of the n-word in the dictionary.
The video ends after another officer steps in front of Walker and leads him away from the group.
Walker used the n-word several times as he confronted the man he accused of calling him the racial slur first – prompting people standing nearby to react in disbelief
Footage from Walker’s body camera shows the beginning of his confrontation with the man but its unclear if he called the officer the n-word
The Columbia Police Department explained the incident in a statement on Sunday, saying that Walker had been suspended without pay pending a disciplinary conduct review and apologizing for his ‘inappropriate, disrespectful words, behavior and actions’.
The statement said that the ordeal was captured on Walker’s body camera and released video which showed him telling patrons to leave after officers discovered the bar was violating the governor’s order.
The audio is hard to distinguish, but Walker is heard telling the main man in the confrontation that he’s ‘color blind’ for using the n-word – although its unclear if he actually did.
‘It is evident the actions of Sgt Walker were a clear failure to fulfill the expectations and standards of our Department,’ Columbia Police Chief W.H. ‘Skip’ Holbrook said in a statement.
‘The repetition of the racial slur and failure to de-escalate the situation were inexcusable.’
Holbrook praised the officer who stepped in to remove Walker from the crowd.
‘Our officers are trained to serve as leaders and to de-escalate confrontations of potentially volatile situations,’ he said.
‘Although I am embarrassed and disappointed in the Sergeant’s actions, I was encouraged to see a junior officer intervene and remove Walker from the situation, potentially stopping further escalation.’
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