A controversial photo has surfaced showing two Chicago police officers posing with rifles over a black man wearing deer antlers. The cops are photoed as if they are celebrating an animal capture. Chicago Sun Times obtained the 10-year-old photo as part of a court case. The officers in the photo were identified as Timothy McDermott and Jerome Finnigan.
FOX 32 News Chicago
Finnigan, pictured on the left, was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2013 for leading a crew of officers in robberies, home invasions and other crimes. McDermott was fired the same year for the photo in a police board vote of 5-4, according to Fox 32. McDermott is shown in the photo gripping the head of the unidentified man whose eyes are rolled backwards and tongue stuck out. McDermott, who now works as a truck driver, is currently appealing to get his job back.
“Appearing to treat an African-American man not as a human being but as a hunted animal is disgraceful and shocks the conscience,” the board said, according to the New York Daily News.
McDermott told internal affairs he was “embarrassed” by his participation in the photo.
“I made a mistake as a young, impressionable police officer who was trying to fit in,” he said.
The picture was taken after Finnigan and McDermott arrested the pictured man for possessing “20 bags of weed,” Finnigan told federal investigators, according to the NY Daily News. The man gave the detectives the rifles for the “spur of the moment” picture, Finnigan said. The detectives let the man go without arresting him because he did not have a serious criminal record.
Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy released a statement to the Chicago Sun-Times Wednesday that read:
“This picture is disgusting, and the despicable actions of these two former officers have no place in our police department or in our society. As the Superintendent of this department, and as a resident of our city, I will not tolerate this kind of behavior, and that is why neither of these officers works for CPD today. I fired one of the officers, and would have fired the other if he hadn’t already been fired by the time I found out about the picture. which is why I fired the officer involved as soon as I learned about photo. Our residents deserve better than this, as do the thousands of good men and women in this department.”
Subscribe to KollegeKidd YouTube Channel by clicking here.
For Updates, Be sure to Follow kollegekidd.com on Twitter @KollegeKidd by clicking here.
You can also stay up-to-date by liking kollegekidd.com FaceBook Page by clicking here
