A San Francisco police officer says he's stuck in a "living hell" of retribution since reporting his supervisors for alleged racist comments made while on duty.
NBC Bay Area spoke with Joel Babbs about the retaliation he's been facing since filing a complaint regarding some racially charged comments he says one of his supervisors made in the presence of other police officers. "It’s been (a) living hell," he said. "How dare you have the audacity to make a complaint? We’re going to ruin you. We’ll ruin you."
Babbs believes that this retaliation stems from when he turned over two cell phone videos to the SFPD's Internal Affairs division, both of which were of the same police lieutenant. In one video, he's reportedly heard discussing a recent Department of Justice report that the SFPD disproportionately targets black motorists for traffic violations and stops. At first, NBC BA=ay Area says he warns officers to not dismiss the study, but that warning turns into a story about a recent stop. The lieutenant then reportedly said, "You know as a cop, I’m asking those guys, because they look f—ing dirty," allegedly referring to black motorists. "But what they see, what they see is you pulled over two black men, and you ask them if you are on probation and parole."
Commenting on the lieutenant's story, Babbs told NBC Bay Area, "They were dirty, they looked dirty — as he referred to black occupants in a vehicle — that that’s why I say he’s racist, that’s the nature of the complaint. When listening to the video, over and over, he says some very, what I feel, are some very racist things toward black people."
In the second video, the same lieutenant appears to talk about an encounter he had with a black woman in Bayview. He said, "If you ever see her, she’s missing a tooth from me." Later, he added, "I went to handcuff her and she grabbed my hand, so I f—ing grabbed (her) finger and snapped it."
After turning in the videos, Babbs says he thought that the lieutenant would be dealt with and that would be it. But he says that things only got worse. According to Babbs, Internal Affairs questioned him about surreptitiously taking the videos, and moved two supervisors out of the unit. He then says that he was kept from taking on overtime shifts, then eventually stripped of his badge and gun, and given paid leave. He says he only learned why from the department doctor: "People in my unit were scared of me," Babbs said. A subsequent investigation by the city's Department of Human Resources appeared to concur with Babbs' fears, writing in a report that their "investigative findings were sufficient to establish that you were subjected to retaliation."
Despite everything, Babbs still wants to return to work. He tells NBC, "It’s a job I love, it’s a job they took away from me. For no apparent reason but to tell the truth."
