Two Black Buffalo police officers and a mental health clinician filed a suit against the department’s police captain after she allegedly went on a lengthy racist rant, per the Investigative Post. The department is already facing another lawsuit for an allegation that their officers consistently abused the N-word.
Back in May, Captain Amber Beyer, overseer of the department’s Behavioral Health Team, was shown a video of an incident where two white officers racially profiled a Black officer in uniform, per the complaint. Beyer’s response was that she understood “both sides” to the story then attempted to validate the racial bias by asserting a slew of nasty stereotypes - all of which had nothing to do with the traffic stop video.
Read what her rant entailed from the Investigative Post:
Beyer responded with a 20-minute “rant,” according to the lawsuit, in which she made the claims about Black criminality and marital infidelity. After asserting that Black men cheat on their wives more often than White men, she asked for affirmation from a white mental health clinician, according to the lawsuit. The clinician did not respond.
Beyer added that all the Black officers she knew were unfaithful and their infidelity “was a running joke” in the department. She said it was understandable that a white person who had been robbed by a Black person would have racist views. An uncomfortable silence fell over the room. Eventually Beyer walked out.
It’s always the loud and wrong ones who try to phone a friend for back up. This rant seemed less of a critique on racial profiling but more of an aimless stand-up act used as an opportunity to spew otherwise socially unacceptable nonsense. She would have been better off tweeting from a burner account.
According to the lawsuit, several witnesses to her outrageous comments discussed the incident through text. Eventually an officer filed a complaint with the Internal Affairs Division and an investigation opened. Following this, Beyer allegedly (and pettily) gathered the team to read a Facebook post from a city resident she believed needed a wellness check.
The reading was polluted with the N-word which she said completely, despite requests that she abbreviate to saying “N-word.” Per the complaint, she’d never read anything like that to the team before. Ironically, a deposition in another pending lawsuit against the department cites the claim that every officer has used the N-word when interacting with Black city residents, per The Buffalo News. Bad apples spoil the whole crop.
The plaintiffs claim their Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated under the Equal Protection Clause and are asking for $15 million in damages.