Five deputies are under investigation for allegedly sending racist text messages while working, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department confirmed, according to Raw Story.
Two of the officers involved, Sheriff’s Capt. Thomas J. Flanders and Det. Michael J. Sollenberger, were put on paid leave at the beginning of December. The other three deputies have not been named and have not been suspended, the news site notes.
The texts under scrutiny were sent between November 2011 and January 2013 from the officers’ personal phones. According to Sheriff Phil Plummer, some of the messages targeted black deputies and were sent while the men were on duty, Raw Story reports.
“The n-word was used several times, as well as other racial slurs and jokes,” Plummer said. “Racism will not be tolerated in this office.”
The texts that the news site quotes include these: “What do apples and black people have in common? They both hang from trees,” “I hate N*ggers. That is all” and “Very simply put, they’re N*ggers, son.”
According to the report, the texts were initially brought to the attention of Dayton Unit NAACP President Derrick L. Foward through an anonymous tip. Foward reported the tip to the department, where officials conducted an investigation and met with the NAACP national office before revealing the allegations to the public.
Read more at Raw Story.