Over A Dozen California Officers Caught Texting About Killing Black People

California Police Officers Caught Texting About Killing Black People

The day after Torrance police shot Christopher DeAndre Mitchell in 2018, his mother and a dozen of his loved ones staged a protest outside the department’s headquarters.

At the same time, a group of officers — including the two who had killed Mitchell — were discussing the situation via text message.

“Was going to tell you all those [N-word] family members are all pissed off in front of the station,” one wrote, according to court documents recently reviewed by The Times Court records show the officers later mused about what might happen once the identities of those who shot the 23-year-old became public.

 

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“Gun cleaning Party at my house when they release my name??” one asked. “Yes absolutely let’s all just post in your yard with lawn chairs in a [firing] squad,” another replied.

Following a year of mass protests against racial injustice and police brutality, community-police interactions continue to be a focus of national attention, and calls to reexamine police funding and practices have become common.

According to the September 2020 PPIC Statewide Survey, 39% of Californians think the police in their community treat all racial and ethnic groups fairly only some of the time or almost never, an increase of 10 percentage points from May 2019.

Only 19% of African Americans say police treat all racial and ethnic groups fairly almost always or most of the time, far lower than among Asian Americans (44%), Latinos (56%), and whites (58%).