On Friday (November 3), San Jose Chief of Police Anthony Mata announced that Officer Mark McNamara was terminated after sending several racist text messages, per NBC News.
The messages were found during an unrelated criminal investigation into the now-former officer. McNamara was involved in an officer-related shooting in downtown San Jose on March 27, 2022. Texts shared by the department were sent by McNamara on the day after the shooting and in June and July of 2023.
“I hate black people,” McNamara wrote via text, according to the department. The officer also used variations of the N-word on several occasions. the department said.
A current police employee who was on the receiving end of some of McNamara’s messages “engaged in other concerning dialogue with the former officer,” the department said in a statement. That employee, who remains unidentified, has been put on administrative leave pending an investigation.
“There is zero tolerance for even a single expression of racial bias at the San Jose Police Department,” Mata said.
Mayor Matt Mahan said in a statement: “There is nothing more sickening than a person in power abusing their position. I will sleep better tonight knowing that this individual is no longer carrying a badge and gun.”
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