San Francisco police suspended over ‘offensive’ sketch

SAN FRANCISCO’S mayor has defended releasing a police video that showed a white officer driving over a black homeless woman and poking fun at racial stereotypes, amid criticism he was hasty in condemning the clips.

Gavin Newsom rejected arguments that the tapes were never meant to be shown publicly and simply contained in-house police jokes, saying he did not “think it was fun and games” to laugh at ethnic stereotypes.

“You can’t just turn a blind eye to the insensitivity in these videos,” Mr Newsom said.

Twenty-four officers from the Bayview station were suspended after portions of the 28-minute video - which Newsom has branded racist, sexist and homophobic - came to light.

Scenes include a traffic cop pulling over a woman and ogling her, and a black officer eating out of a dog bowl.

Officer Andrew Cohen, who produced the video, appeared at a hearing yesterday to determine if he could return to work.

Mr Cohen, who said he had intended to show the video at the station’s Christmas party as a send-off for retiring Captain Rick Bruce, faces charges of conduct unbecoming of an officer.

Mr Cohen’s lawyers said the video was marked “for comedy purposes only”.

Mr Cohen was in the process of removing the video from his website when he heard city officials had concerns and was blind-sided when Mr Newsom and Police Chief Heather Fong released it at a press conference, said Daniel Horowitz, one of Mr Cohen’s lawyers.

“This is all about people joking around, and it got out of hand because the mayor released it publicly,” Mr Horowitz said.

Mr Horowitz said Mr Newsom was engaging in “politically correct opportunism”.

Mr Newsom said when people got a chance to review additional video footage he called “outrageous”, they would consider the city’s response measured.

“If this occurred in any business in the private sector, none of us would criticise the company for direct and swift action,” Mr Newsom said, later, adding “this is the last thing the city needs at this time”.

The department last drew national attention three years ago, when former Chief Earl Sanders was indicted - and later cleared - in an alleged cover-up of a late-night brawl between two off-duty officers and two men who refused to hand over a bag of fajitas.