A petition campaign is being organized by Detroit women asking Police Chief James Craig to fire Officer Gary Steele for a racist Snapchat video.
This Friday, "some of Detroit’s most prominent black women leaders – including state Rep. Sherry Gay-Dagnogo (D-Detroit), Detroit NAACP Executive Director Kamilia Landrum and Focus: HOPE CEO Portia Roberson – will come together to announce a petition drive to call for Steele’s dismissal. I'll be there, too," Kim Trent writes in a Detroit Free Press guest commentary. She was elected in 2012 to Wayne State University's Board of Governors.
Steele is suspended for ridiculing Ariel Moore, a 23-year old black Detroiter he ticketed for driving with suspended license plates, Steele had her car impounded and made a video mocking her as she walked home in sub-zero cold.
Kim Trent: "I won't be silent about the disrespect and harm." (Photo: Facebook)
"Steele . . . sarcastically labeled the episode as his salute to Black History Month," Trent recounts. "He ended the taped encounter by saying, 'Bye, Felicia!' — a black colloquialism used to signal disrespect for a person the speaker is dismissing."
For me, the need to relieve Steele of his duties is about risk management, not revenge. A so-called public servant who so gleefully delights in seeing a citizen being put in harm’s way has no business in law enforcement. It's not unreasonable to worry that his behavior will escalate from callous to lethal.
Furthermore, there is evidence that Steele's track record disqualifies him for a job that requires him to use good judgment with a firearm. In 2008, he accepted a plea deal for physically assaulting an ex-girlfriend and firing a gun next to her head.
I understand that Chief Craig must conduct thorough investigation before he decides Steele's fate. But as a citizen, I won't be silent about the disrespect and harm that Steele heaped upon Moore. . . .
I am hopeful that Chief Craig will . . . [hold] Steele accountable for his actions.
Trent, a graduate of Cass Tech High School ('87) and WSU ('91), is a former Detroit News reporter and aide to Sen. Debbie Stabenow and ex-Congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick. She's now a senior Vice President for Compass Strategies, a Detroit communications, government affairs and community relations firm.
Craig has argued the firing Steele would be premature, given that an investigation is ongoing. At a Board of Police Commissioners meeting last week, Craig also did not recommend that Steele's pay be withheld while he's under suspension.
