PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - Providence’s mayor is calling on the city retirement board to deny the pension application of a former police sergeant fired for making racially insensitive remarks about a fellow officer.
David Marchant, who is white, was fired in 2015 a year after he and a black colleague responded to reports of a suspicious package at Brown University. Marchant reportedly told a supervisor that he had the black officer handle the package, and if he got sick it wouldn’t be a problem because “he’s a black guy anyway.”
Marchant said he was joking.
The Providence Journal (https://bit.ly/2iFqYz0 ) reports that Mayor Jorge Elorza wants the board to deny the pension to “send a strong message that his conduct constitutes dishonorable service and will not be tolerated.”
Marchant’s lawyer called Elorza’s request “heavy handed.”
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Information from: The Providence Journal, https://www.providencejournal.com
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