An Albany police officer is out of a job after being caught on camera making racist comments.
Earlier this month, officer David W. Haupt, who is white, was recorded on a colleague’s body camera describing the race of suspects.
“My buddies listen to the scanner and they send me texts all the time, and they go, ‘Is the suspect ever a white male?’ and I go ‘No.’ I know it sounds terrible to say, but I don’t give a f– what anybody says, I sincerely don’t,” he said, before continuing, “Because bro, they are the worst f–ing race and I don’t–– you can’t deny, like, over the last X amount of months, they are –– you know because we work together –– they are getting worse and worse, and people are defending that. Are you f–ing kidding me?”
His fellow officer replied, “Uh-huh” in the video.
Albany’s Police Chief Eric Hawkins, a Black man, has plans to terminate Haupt, who’s worked on the force for four years.
If Haupt opts to challenge the decision, it could end up in a months-long court process.
Chief Hawkins said in a news conference, “It could be a process as short as a month or so or it could go into several months.” He affirmed that the officer’s thought process was not welcomed in the department.
“When we see it in police departments, law enforcement leaders have an obligation to stand up, call it what it is and take the appropriate action. And that’s what I did,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins is not new to terminating officers over misconduct, back in January he fired three patrolmen who were caught on tape in March of 2019 in an incident where eight officers were beating three men.
Photo: Getty Images