Due to a widely shared video showing a lieutenant from the Detroit Police Department interacting with a pro-Palestinian demonstrator, the lieutenant has been assigned to administrative duties.
On Sunday, May 19, outside Huntington Place in Detroit, where President Joe Biden was giving the keynote speaker at an NAACP fundraiser, an incident occurred, according to the Associated Press.
The video clip, which is now making the rounds on social media, shows the lieutenant and the protestor standing approximately ten feet apart when the officer asks, "Why do not you just go back to Mexico?"
"Because that is where you were hanging out," the lieutenant responds to the protester who is female and claims she is not from Mexico. Return to Mexico and spend time there. Go have another party in Mexico."
After seeing the video, Detroit Police Chief James White claimed he saw something wrong and launched an internal affairs investigation to find out whether departmental policy was broken. The lieutenant, whose identity has not been made public, was stripped of his protest and demonstration policing responsibilities as part of the inquiry.
Officer in question was already aware that the protestor had just been to Mexico, according to Cmdr. Michael McGinnis, who said the department found out later.
"His remark concerned her going back on vacation," McGinnis said. "The encounter becomes less obnoxious when that context is included. It modifies the plot, but it does not allay Chief White's fears."
White voiced his own dissatisfaction with the situation to the media on Monday. "I felt insulted. Indeed, what I saw infuriated me," White said. "We support peaceful protests."
On Sunday, May 19, outside Huntington Place in Detroit, where President Joe Biden was giving the keynote speaker at an NAACP fundraiser, an incident occurred, according to the Associated Press.
The video clip, which is now making the rounds on social media, shows the lieutenant and the protestor standing approximately ten feet apart when the officer asks, "Why do not you just go back to Mexico?"
"Because that is where you were hanging out," the lieutenant responds to the protester who is female and claims she is not from Mexico. Return to Mexico and spend time there. Go have another party in Mexico."
Protestors are calling for Detroit Police Lieutenant Brandon Cole to be fired after a video shows him telling a protestor to “go back to Mexico.”
— Ibrahim Samra (@ISamraTV) May 20, 2024
It happened at a protest in Detroit outside The Huntington Place where Biden delivered a speech at NAACP Dinner in Detroit. pic.twitter.com/bw0RVRRA5X
After seeing the video, Detroit Police Chief James White claimed he saw something wrong and launched an internal affairs investigation to find out whether departmental policy was broken. The lieutenant, whose identity has not been made public, was stripped of his protest and demonstration policing responsibilities as part of the inquiry.
Officer in question was already aware that the protestor had just been to Mexico, according to Cmdr. Michael McGinnis, who said the department found out later.
"His remark concerned her going back on vacation," McGinnis said. "The encounter becomes less obnoxious when that context is included. It modifies the plot, but it does not allay Chief White's fears."
White voiced his own dissatisfaction with the situation to the media on Monday. "I felt insulted. Indeed, what I saw infuriated me," White said. "We support peaceful protests."
