City council in Alabama votes to dissolve police department after accusations of racist joke
By Jade Gordon and Preston Fore, CNN
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Updated:
A city council in Alabama has voted to dissolve its three-member police department after the assistant chief sent a racist text message to other officers, according to the mayor, James Latimer.
At an emergency meeting of the Vincent City Council on August 4, members moved to suspend with pay Chief of Police James Srygley and Assistant Chief of Police John L. Gross. The third officer, Lee Cardin, resigned later that evening after the council voted to pursue fully dissolving the department.
It left the city’s nearly 2,000 residents with no active police officers.
The next day, the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office said it was “currently handling” all law enforcement emergency calls for Vincent, which is located about 35 miles east of Birmingham.
“The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office was recently notified by the Vincent City Council and Mayor regarding the recent allegations of misconduct within the Vincent Police Department, and we equally condemn these actions,” the release stated. “Sheriff (John) Samaniego stands with the City of Vincent in providing emergency law enforcement-related services for the citizens during this time.”
Angry residents had called for the assistant police chief to be fired at a City Council meeting August 2 after the text message, which included a racist joke about slavery, surfaced on social media, CNN affiliate WBRC reported.
“To me, that was just a punch in the gut like going back to the 1930s and ’40s, and I often forget that we’re still not there,” Lois Garrett, a local resident, told WBRC. “It hurt. I was hurt; I was embarrassed because I thought we were better than that.”
CNN reached out to members of the city council and the Vincent police officers but has not heard back.
The council is set to discuss the matter at its upcoming meeting August 16.
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Brown, a Black 18-year-old, was fatally shot by a white officer, Darren Wilson, in 2014 in Ferguson, Missouri, sparking weeks of sometimes violent protests. A St. Louis County grand jury, the U.S. Department of Justice and the St. Louis County prosecuting attorney all declined to charge Wilson in Brown's death.
Chicago Police Department via AP, File
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Tamir Rice, 12, was fatally shot by a white Cleveland police officer in November 2014. Tamir, who was Black, had a pellet gun tucked in his waistband. A grand jury declined to indict patrolman Timothy Loehmann, who fired the fatal shot, or training officer Frank Garmback. The Justice Department declined to bring federal charges.
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Gray, a 25-year-old Black man, died in 2015 after he suffered a spinal injury while handcuffed and shackled in a Baltimore police van. Six officers were charged. Three were acquitted and Baltimore’s state attorney dropped the other cases. The Justice Department declined to bring federal charges.
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Justine Ruszczyk Damond, an unarmed white dual citizen of the U.S. and Australia, was fatally shot in 2017 by Minneapolis Police Officer Mohamed Noor after she called 911 to report a possible rape. Noor testified he was startled by a loud bang and that he fired to protect his partner. He was convicted of third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter and sentenced to 12 1/2 years. The murder conviction was later overturned and Noor was resentenced on the manslaughter count to nearly five years in prison.
Rose Baca/The Dallas Morning News via AP, Pool
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Ellis, a 33-year-old Black man, died in March 2020 after he was Tasered, handcuffed and hogtied, with his face covered by a spit hood during an arrest in Washington. Tacoma police officers Christopher Burbank and Matthew Collins have pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder charges. Officer Timothy Rankine has pleaded not guilty to first-degree manslaughter.
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Taylor, a Black 26-year-old Louisville emergency medical worker, was fatally shot in her apartment during a raid by plainclothes narcotics detectives in March 2020. A grand jury brought no charges against officers in her death and prosecutors said two officers who fired at her were justified because her boyfriend shot at them. However, one officer was indicted for shooting into a neighboring home.
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In May 2020, the dying gasps of Floyd under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer led to the biggest outcry against racial injustice in the U.S. in generations. White former Officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter and sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison. Three other officers — Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng — are on trial in St. Paul on federal charges of violating Floyd’s civil rights, and face a state trial later this year.
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Brooks, a 27-year-old Black man, fell asleep in his car in an Atlanta restaurant drive-thru lane in June 2020. Two white officers told him he was too drunk to drive and tried to arrest him. Brooks grabbed one of their Tasers and fired it at Officer Garrett Rolfe. Rolfe fired his gun, hitting Brooks twice in the back. Rolfe is charged with murder. Officer Devin Brosnan was charged with aggravated assault and violating his oath.
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Hill, a 47-year-old Black man, was fatally shot by a white police officer in Columbus, Ohio, in December as he emerged from a garage holding a cellphone. Officer Adam Coy was fired and has pleaded not guilty to murder and reckless homicide. The police chief was forced out and the city agreed to pay a $10 million settlement to Hill’s family. Coy’s trial is scheduled for March 7.
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Eight-year-old Fanta died Aug. 27 when three police officers fired into a crowd exiting a high school football game near Philadelphia. Investigators say the officers were responding to two teens exchanging gunfire. Devon Smith, Sean Dolan and Brian Devaney have been charged with manslaughter and reckless endangerment.
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Greene, a 49-year-old Black motorist, died in Louisiana in May 2019 after what police initially described as a high-speed chase and crash. Long-withheld body-camera video obtained by The Associated Press in May 2021 shows white state troopers jolting Greene with stun guns, punching him in the face and dragging him by ankle shackles. No one has been charged in Greene's death.
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The 22-year-old Grant, who was Black, was killed in 2009 by an officer responding to a fight in Oakland, California. Johannes Mehserle testified at trial that, fearing Grant had a weapon, he reached for his stun gun but mistakenly pulled his handgun instead. Mehserle was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to two years in prison. He served 11 months.
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Harris, a 44-year-old Black man, was being held down by officers in 2015 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, when a white volunteer sheriff's deputy fatally shot him. The deputy, Robert Bates (pictured), said he had meant to use his stun gun. Bates was convicted of second-degree manslaughter and sentenced to four years in prison. He served about 16 months.
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Former police officer Kim Potter was convicted in December of first- and second-degree manslaughter in the April 11 killing of Daunte Wright, a Black motorist. Wright was killed after Brooklyn Center officers pulled him over for having expired license tags and an air freshener hanging from his rearview mirror. Evidence at Potter's trial showed officers learned he had an outstanding warrant for a weapons possession charge and they tried to arrest him when he pulled away. Video showed Potter shouted several times that she was going to use her Taser on Wright, but she had her gun in her hand and fired one shot into his chest.
