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Officer quits after confronting black man picking up trash
Source: Associated Press
Officer quits after confronting black man picking up trash
By KATHLEEN FOODY
May 16, 2019
DENVER (AP) — A white Colorado police officer who confronted a black man picking up trash around his dormitory resigned this week under an agreement that lets him collect $69,000 in salary despite violating department policies.
Body camera footage released Thursday provided a full video account of the tense encounter, which gained national attention based on video shot by someone inside the building. That footage only showed Zayd Atkinson holding a bucket and a tool for picking up trash as police officers surrounded him outside the dormitory for students at Naropa University, a liberal arts school associated with Buddhism.
An attorney for Atkinson called the agreement with the city of Boulder “ridiculous.”
“Boulder is essentially saying we’re going to pay this officer and let him resign for threatening Zayd’s life, for racially profiling Zayd,” attorney Siddhartha Rathod said. “If you or I were to do this, we would be criminally charged. We would immediately lose our jobs.”
In a statement, City Attorney Tom Carr said firing the officer, John Smyly, would have led to a drawn-out appeal and potentially allowed him to keep his job.
-snip-
By KATHLEEN FOODY
May 16, 2019
DENVER (AP) — A white Colorado police officer who confronted a black man picking up trash around his dormitory resigned this week under an agreement that lets him collect $69,000 in salary despite violating department policies.
Body camera footage released Thursday provided a full video account of the tense encounter, which gained national attention based on video shot by someone inside the building. That footage only showed Zayd Atkinson holding a bucket and a tool for picking up trash as police officers surrounded him outside the dormitory for students at Naropa University, a liberal arts school associated with Buddhism.
An attorney for Atkinson called the agreement with the city of Boulder “ridiculous.”
“Boulder is essentially saying we’re going to pay this officer and let him resign for threatening Zayd’s life, for racially profiling Zayd,” attorney Siddhartha Rathod said. “If you or I were to do this, we would be criminally charged. We would immediately lose our jobs.”
In a statement, City Attorney Tom Carr said firing the officer, John Smyly, would have led to a drawn-out appeal and potentially allowed him to keep his job.
-snip-
Read more: https://apnews.com/1c1ff411b5924e15a689784d78ef4f99
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