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Worst Excuse for Police Racism
Thursday 18th October 2012 | Jacob
Casting you mind back to late last year, you may recall the arrest of Mauro Demetrio. It sticks in the head more than the run of the mill stop-and-search procedure, with allegations that the arresting officer, PC Alex MacFarlane repeatedly used racially offensive language.
What marks this case apart from similar incidents is that Demetrio had the forethought to secretly record the incident on his phone from a pocket, allowing a case to be brought to court. Samples from the accused policeman’s tirade include “the problem with you is that you will always be a nigger" and “Don’t hide behind your colour”. Vibrant language from a man whose professional utterances are usually limited to “Yes, it’s just down there on the left” and “Put that cone down”.
While most of the attributed quotes are toe-curlingly offensive, some of them come across as scenes from a bad rugby social. One such exchange seems to have taken a particularly adolescent turn:
Demetrio: Why did you strangle me?
PC MacFarlane: I did strangle you.
Demetrio: Why?
PC MacFarlane: Because you’re a cunt.
Perhaps there was a terrible error in PC MacFarlane’s training. Maybe instead of 25-weeks of tough law enforcement instruction he was simply shown a Youtube compilation of Danny Dyer swearing. Could he have confused ‘police accountability’ with ‘pre-lash banter’? Unlikely, but maybe incidents like this are more common than we may like to think.
What makes this case all the more shocking is the excuse MacFarlane has given for the language he used. Claiming to have been attempting to explain to Demetrio that he was not being searched on account of his race, he refers to another quote from the recording “Be proud of who you are” and regrets getting into a “slanging match” where things ended up becoming “unpleasant”.
It’s an ambitious attempt I’ll give him that. Not since Ian Huntley pulled the “I was just giving them a bath” card has the justice system seen such a powerful play for innocence. The trial continues.
In the meantime, have a listen to the recording for yourself. I probably don't need to tell you it's pretty offensive.
By Jacob Alexander Guberg
