The state’s Black lawmakers say they were shocked to see the videotape.
South Carolina’s No. 1 safety official and its top cop were forced to hand in their resignations to the governor Friday after African-American members of the state Legislature got hold of a 4-year-old videotape from a police cruiser showing a White officer using the “N”-word during a traffic stop and threatening to kill a Black suspect after a gun was found in his car. In 2004, South Carolina Department of Public Safety Director James Schweitzer and Highway Patrol Colonel Russell Roark reprimanded the officer by suspending him for 12 hours and making him take training in diversity and anger management. When challenged at the time for the seemingly light punishment, Schweitzer said, “I’ve made hundreds and hundreds of decisions in the last four years” and that he was sticking with the penalty. Representative Leon Howard, of the State Legislative Black Caucus, told Hatzel Zela of Live 5 News in Charleston, “When that trooper said, you better run ‘N,’ because I’m fixing to kill you. I really couldn’t sleep for days. I just couldn’t believe South Carolina would have anyone working in our law enforcement with that type of mentality. That type of behavior will not be tolerated. Our citizens will not be disrespected. They’re there to protect the citizens and not harass the citizens.” By the way, the trooper is still working as a highway patrolman. Should they have been forced to resign?

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