The disturbing commentary, which was recorded via an accidental activation of a patrol car camera, was discovered on June 4 during a monthly department audit of video recordings. The nearly two-hour-long recording included remarks from former officers Kevin Piner, Jessie Moore and Brian Gilmore and was immediately reported after a reviewer flagged the “extremely racist comments” in a report.
A summary of an internal investigation report reveals that in one conversation between Piner and Gilmore, the pair began to criticize the department’s handling of the growing protests, with Piner saying that the force is more concerned about “kneeling down with Black folks.”
In another conversation detailed in the report, Moore phoned Piner and began recounting his arrest of a Black woman the day prior, referring to her as a “b***h” and a “n****r” on multiple occasions, as well as using other offensive language. At one point, the two officers also began to critique a Black magistrate, with Moore calling the official a “p***y” for making a decision he didn’t agree with.
“God has a special place for people like that, I hope they burn in hell man… hate ‘em. It’s bad man because not all Black people are like that,” reads a transcription of Moore’s remarks regarding the magistrate. He continued by saying, “90 percent of ‘em Kevin, 90 f**king percent of ‘em.”
Later in the same conversation, Piner told Moore that he felt as though a second civil war was imminent and that he was “ready” for it. Piner went on to say that he was going to purchase a new assault rifle in the coming weeks.
“We are just gonna go out and start slaughtering them f**king n****rs. I can’t wait. God I can’t wait,” Piner said after the pair began discussing “Marshall Law,” reads the report.
Although Moore rejected Piner’s remarks, later calling him “crazy,” Piner didn’t stop. In fact, Piner further explained that society needed to undergo a civil war in order to “wipe ‘em off the f**king map.”
“That’ll put ‘em back about four or five generations,” he added.
Five days after the footage was first flagged, supervisors confronted the officers with the recordings, and all three admitted to making the remarks but denied being racist. They each stated that the commentary was the result of built-up stress ignited by nationwide protests calling out police mistreatment against Black individuals, and that they were just “venting.”
The department’s Chief Donny Williams announced during a Wednesday briefing that all three officers were dismissed for violations of standards of conduct, criticism and use of inappropriate language. “These conversations included disrespectful language, hate-filled speech and referred to Black people as the N-word,” he said.
Aside from their dismissal, all cases involving the officers will be reviewed by the district attorney’s office to determine if they showed any bias or committed any crimes. Additionally, Williams has indicated that he will be notifying the North Carolina Criminal Justice Education and Training Standards Commission of the officers’ conduct and recommending that Piner, Moore and Gilmore not be hired by another law enforcement department.
