It's been eight months and counting since more than a dozen California police officers were linked to “anti-Semitic, racist, homophobic or transphobic remarks” spanning three years in the city of Torrance. Despite 390 of the disgusting remarks counted in court documents, most of those police officers still work for the police department about 20 miles southwest of Los Angeles, according to The Los Angeles Times.
In one text message condemning protesters after Torrance police officers shot and killed Christopher DeAndre Mitchell, an officer reportedly wrote: "Was going to tell you all those [N-word] family members are all pissed off in front of the station.”
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Another text message showed an officer implying violence after the names of the officers who killed Mitchell were released. “Gun cleaning Party at my house when they release my name??” that officer reportedly asked.
Melina Abdullah, the co-founder of Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, summarized the details of how Mitchell was killed on Dec. 9, 2018 in a petition to create a civilian oversight commission for Torrance police and see Mitchell's killers charged, fired, and not rehired elsewhere.
Mitchell was in a Ralph's grocery store parking lot when officers Matthew Concannon and Anthony Chavez shot him multiple times "within 15 seconds of approaching the vehicle in which he was sitting," Abdullah wrote in the petition.
“The gunshot wound to his hand indicates that his hands were in a position of surrender at the time he was shot,” she said.
Police contend Mitchell was armed.
The state attorney general’s office subpoenaed police for their records in May related to its investigation into alleged police misconduct, but authorities have yet to release updates about their probe.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office, formerly led by District Attorney Jackie Lacey, determined it would not charge the officers who killed Mitchell.
"We find that Officers Anthony Chavez and Matthew Concannon acted lawfully in self-defense when they used deadly force against Christopher Deandre Mitchell," Lacey’s team wrote in their findings. "We are closing our file and will take no further action in this matter."
Prosecutors wrote in their analysis that the car Mitchell was driving had been reported stolen, although Chavez had been “unable” to run its plates before approaching Mitchell.
Chavez yelled “police” and told Mitchell to put his hands on the steering wheel, a command prosecutors wrote that Mitchell hesitated before following. The officers then claimed that Mitchell reached near his lap where they saw a rifle and again leaned forward even though police had told him not to move.
Heavily edited police body camera video of the stop showed an officer telling Mitchell not to move and seconds later demanding he “get out of the car.” The officers’ three gunshots followed.
Warning: This video contains footage of a police shooting that may be triggering for viewers.
Mitchell’s death triggered outrage in the community and led to numerous protests, which were later found to be mocked by police.
They spread racist cartoons, joked about “gassing” Jewish people, and made statements about lynching suspects and murdering Black children, The Los Angeles Times reported.
Torrance police told the newspaper 15 officers were put on administrative leave related to the alleged misconduct, but the department has opted not to identify those officers. Former Torrance Police Officers Christopher Tomsic and Cody Weldin were charged with spray-painting a swastika in a car, and Torrance police only reported that they left the force, not specifying whether they were fired, according to The Los Angeles Times.
The newspaper identified other officers and reported authors of racist text messages as Concannon, Chavez, Andrew Kissinger, Enrique Villegas, David Chandler, Brian Kawamoto, Joshua Satterfield, Christopher Allen-Young, Blake Williams, Omar Alonso, and Maxwell Schroeder.
Schroeder, who worked for Long Beach Police, not Torrance, was the only officer officials said was terminated, effective on Feb. 24, 2022.
The city of Torrance and its police department claimed to be "committed to police reform, transparency and building trust with the public," in a news release responding to The Los Angeles Times article.
"We are committed to building a police department that will reflect the values of the community that we are proud to serve," Sgt. Ron Salary, the Torrance Police Department's spokesman, wrote in the release. "This transformation will take time, but rest assured that the women and men of this department are working hard to build community trust while engaging in policing guided by respect for all and constitutional principles."
Salary went on to say that misconduct "will not be tolerated."
"We will provide public safety," he said. "We will rebuild community trust. We will do better."
He failed to say how any of those promises would translate to holding racist officers accountable.
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RELATED STORY: Secret texts from Torrance cops uncover messages threatening to lynch Black people, ‘gas’ Jews