Latino and Black Police Officers Accuse Ohio Police Chief Of Racist Abuse

Latino officer Audali "A.J." Torres of the Sheffield Lake Police Department becomes the latest to speak out against former Sheffield Lake chief Anthony Campo.

Campo, who was also accused by an African-American police officer of discrimination, left the department after being placed on administrative leave following a surfaced surveillance footage.

Officer Torres has now also filed a discrimination civil rights complaint against the former police chief. His complaint alleges constant harassment by Campo over his ethnicity and religion.

Torres is the only Latino officer in the Sheffield Lake Police Department. He recently held a virtual news conference regarding his civil rights complaint. He said that since joining the department as a part-timer in 2013, he had endured constant "racist and religion-based abuse" from the former police chief. CNN reports that he would be the second officer to file a complaint against Campo.

Officer Torres Targeted For Being Latino and Roman Catholic

According to NBC News, A.J. Torres describes himself as a "devout Roman Catholic," who became a police officer to pay for his annual church mission trips to El Salvador. The officer would also request to have Sundays off from his duty so he could attend church and has reached an "understanding with the city" because of this.

However, according to Torres' complaint, his religious practices have made Campo "angry." The former police chief threatened the Latino officer with reduced working hours and took away his benefits. Campo also mocked Torres over his religious practices.

One of the many ways Campo harassed Torres is that the former police chief would photoshop images of Torres and hang them on the bulletin board to mock the Latino. The images contained Torres' face in a jar of salsa, as well as an image of Torres with two children from his missions to El Salvador, with speech bubbles implying that officer was a pedophile.

Torres admitted during his news conference that these attacks hurt him. He also stated that he is coming forward to show people that this kind of racist behavior is unacceptable

Surveillance Footage Exposed Campo's Racism Towards Black Officer in 2021

Anthony Campo's racist actions were first exposed, thanks to surveillance footage of him leaving a note reading "Ku Klux Klan" inside Officer Keith Pool's raincoat.

Pool was the only black police officer in the department at the time of the incident, which happened on June 25, 2021.

Following the incident, Sheffield Lake Mayor Dennis Bring then placed Campo on administrative leave. However, in his conversation with Bring, Campo stated that he intended to resign effective immediately, according to USA Today.

Bring described the former police chief's actions as the "most egregious and offensive thing you could possibly do," adding that they were also "embarrassing and disgusting."

However, despite Mayor Bring condemning Campo's actions, Kevin Conway, a lawyer representing both Torres and Pool, stated that the city still tried to minimize the former chief's discriminatory actions. The lawyer stated that the city's response to Torres coming out was verbatim when Pool filed his complaint. He added that the city's response to the filings of both men "reveals how Mr. Campo got away with racial harassment for so long."

Another lawyer for the case, aid Ashlie Case Sletvold, also added that city officials were not willing to hold Campo accountable. NBC News reports that the Ohio Civil Rights Commission now has a year to decide on both cases. According to a commission spokesperson, the civil rights branch of the Ohio Attorney General's Office could be hearing both cases.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

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