A police officer in Ohio lashed out while driving, cursing up a storm and even using the N-word, censored bodycam footage shows.
“I f****** hate them,” Officer Rose Valentino of the Cincinnati Police Department said on April 5 (h/t WCPO). “Oh, I f****** hate them so much. F****** God. I hate this f****** world. F****** hate it,” she later said. “F****** n******s. I f****** hate them.”
An internal investigative report said that Valentino was on duty in a marked police car when she went to the district three police station to work on a report, according to WLWT. According to the internal investigation report, the officer pulled into the driveway of the station and saw several vehicles lined up to pick up students from Western Hills University High School. Drivers did not move after Valentino signaled at them with her siren and lights. She got angry, rolled down her window, and told them to move. A Black male student walking by flipped the bird at her, authorities said.
As seen on video, Valentino lashed out with the curse words after pulling into the driveway.
Now Valentino’s police powers have reportedly been suspended and she remains on desk duty ahead of an administrative hearing.
“This is a hard job, and I was getting to a point where I was really being affected by it,” she said in the internal investigative report. “I have been on for 14 years.”
The officer said she was frustrated from traffic and people not taking her seriously. Valentino denied having “any racial biases that have affected her work.”
“Officer Valentino believed she had been desensitized by music and hearing people talk on the street,” the report said. “Constant exposure has allowed this slur to slip into Officer Valentino’s vernacular.”
Valentino, who was profiled in a 2011 reality show “Police Women of Cincinnati,” has had a lengthy career, but a bumpy one as of late. Though she had a glowing performance review in May, that followed two reprimands. In 2019, while at dinner at a casino, she used a cellphone to show family bodycam footage from a homicide, authorities said. The following year, she and her sister were arrested for fighting each other. Valentino pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and was ordered to take “an anger management assessment,” according to WCPO.
Valentino, the city, and two other officers were also sued in 2019 after cops detained a realtor and a client — both of whom were Black — after a retired cop called in a suspected burglary. The city quickly reached a settlement.
“We hold all of our employees, and especially our sworn police officers, to high standards,” Cincinnati city manager John Curp reportedly said. “The body camera video of Officer Rose Valentino is disturbing. I expect CPD to thoroughly investigate this matter and recommend discipline in strict accordance with the City’s disciplinary procedures. That process is mandated by the contractual requirements of the collective bargaining agreement between the F.O.P. and the City. I have requested that the process proceed without delay. I agree with the Chief’s decision to suspend the officer’s police powers while the disciplinary hearing process is ongoing. Officer Valentino will not be on city streets in uniform, wearing a badge, or carrying a firearm.”
[Screenshot via WCPO]
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