Louisville Police Officer Called Black Woman A ‘Wild Animal That Needs To Be Put Down,’ Investigation Finds
Newly released records from the Louisville Metro Police Department suggest that former officer Brian Smith, who reportedly resigned in April, allegedly made a series of racially charged posts on Facebook, including one where he called a black woman a “wild animal that needs [to be] put down.”
According to WDRB News, the internal investigation, which lasted for more than one year, started when Smith was found to have made three Facebook posts that “[advocated] violence against others” and “fostered mistrust” of law enforcement. LMPD Chief Steve Conrad was reportedly planning to fire Smith for his behavior on social media, but instead gave him a one-month suspension without pay on January 26.
Based on records obtained by WDRB, a complaint was filed against Brian Smith in December, 2016, as he was accused of having a “deep-seated bias” against minorities in the Louisville area. One of his posts around that time had called out young African-Americans for their choice of clothing, as the records show Smith threatening violence against them, but adding that he won’t act on those threats as doing so “could get [him] in trouble.”
“Ok. … If you wear a hat, square it up on ur head and put a bend in the bill, and pull ur pants up. You really make me want to hit u as hard as I can in the face just to see if I can fold ur teeth inside ur mouth. I’m not saying id do it, for that would be illegal, immoral, and wrong, not to mention (and most important) could get me in trouble. That is all.”
Aside from that post, Brian Smith allegedly referred to a black woman as “nothing but a wild animal that needs [to be] put down,” and criticized Madonna for her well-documented study of the Koran, saying that someone should take a microphone from the pop star and “beat her half to death” with it.
“That’s a lesson in Muslin [sic] behavior for her.”
WDRB noted that the posts were forwarded to the Louisville Metro Police Department by Sam Aguiar, a lawyer who is representing the daughters of shooting victim Darnell Wicker, who was killed in August, 2016, by police officers while he was allegedly holding a large, sharp weapon. Smith, who was cleared of any wrongdoing in the Wicker incident, was present in the shooting, but did not fire his gun, as further noted.
Seven years prior to the messages that led to the LMPD investigation, Smith had also found himself in trouble with his superiors in the force, after he allegedly sent “inappropriate” text messages to his ex-girlfriend’s daughter, who was a minor at the time of the 2009 incident. This resulted in the former officer getting suspended for 25 days without pay.
