Whether you’re a law enforcement officer or work in a call center, there are some things that you should keep to yourself or at the very least, don’t speak them at work or via text message because what you say can and will be used against you.
A Baton Rouge police officer accused of sending racist text messages resigned Thursday, but NAACP leaders said they still want answers, particularly whether any of the arrests the officer made in the past may have been racially motivated.
Michael Elsbury, who has been with the department for about 15 years, still faces a criminal investigation even though he resigned, said Cpl. Don Coppola, a Baton Rouge Police spokesman.
The allegations surfaced Wednesday when NAACP state President Ernest Johnson said he was shown a series of text messages with racial slurs that purportedly had been sent by Elsbury to a friend outside of the Police Department.
The texts were given to police “by a girl, a friend” of Elsbury’s, Police Chief Carl Dabadie said Thursday night.
Part of the string of texts read: “I wish someone would pull a Ferguson on them and take them out. I hate looking at those African monkeys at work … I enjoy arresting those thugs with their saggy pants.”
Another part of one of the texts reads: “They are nothing but a bunch of monkeys.”
Dabadie said once the friend turned the cellphone in to police, detectives worked to try to authenticate the text messages and determine whether Elsbury sent them.
“When you dump a phone, that’s a lot of texts to go through,” Dabadie said. “That’s what was taking so long.”
By about 6:15 p.m. Wednesday, Dabadie said, police had enough information to place Elsbury on administrative leave.
The investigation continued Thursday, but by that afternoon, Dabadie said, he was contacted by a union representative who said Elsbury had decided to resign, but criminal charges are still possible.
staff