Eight more police officers have been fired in connection with a racially charged beating at a house where off-duty officers were having a party, the police chief said Tuesday.
The firings bring to nine the number of officers who have lost their jobs over the incident in October.
Frank Jude Jr., 26, has said he was beaten by men who identified themselves as off-duty officers and accused him of stealing a police badge and wallet. He said the men punched, kicked and choked him while using a racial slur.
Jude is biracial, and all eight officers fired are white. No badge was found on Jude, and he was never charged with theft. The incident inflamed tensions between the police department and the city’s black residents.
The eight officers were accused by the department of either joining in the beating or witnessing it and not trying to stop it.
Those fired include three officers charged with crimes for their alleged involvement: Jon Bartlett, Daniel Masarik and Andrew Spengler, Police Chief Nan Hegerty said. The party was at Spengler’s house.
The police chief already had fired one officer for refusing to answer department investigators’ questions about the attack. Four officers have also been suspended or demoted in the case.
Bartlett’s attorney, Bridget Boyle-Saxton, said it was unfair to fire Bartlett before his legal case was heard. She said Bartlett would appeal the firing.
The police department said the off-duty officers were permitted to talk to each other and roam around the scene after the beating, violating basic protocol for control of crime scenes.
Defense attorneys have said they will ask to move the case out of town and seek separate trials for each officer.
