DETROIT (WWJ) — A Detroit police Lieutenant has been placed on administrative duty and is under investigation for comments he made while policing a protest outside Huntington Place ahead of President Joe Biden's speech Sunday evening.
Two organized pro-Palestine demonstrations planned for Sunday eventually merged into one outside the convention center, protesting the president's handling of the Israel-Hamas war according to Detroit police. At some point the lieutenant began verbally engaging with a woman involved in the protest.
Video posted to social media went viral on Sunday after the lieutenant was heard telling her to "go back to Mexico."
During a press conference at Detroit Police Headquarters on Monday, Chief James White said he "initially, as many, was offended."
"In fact, I was outraged by what I saw," he said, before saying "a substantial amount of context evidence has been obtained."
During the press conference DPD officials played a longer video clip from an officer's body worn camera, providing more context to the situation, saying the lieutenant and protester were somehow familiar with each other prior to the incident and he had discovered on her Instagram page that she had recently returned from a vacation in Mexico, where she was "partying."
In the extended video, multiple protesters can be heard shouting profanities at the lieutenant and using his first name, Brandon.
"Give me a ticket, I don't give a f***," the woman said before the lieutenant said "why don't you just go back to Mexico?"
"Because that's where you were hanging out and having a good time there," he went on to say.
"No you went there," he replied after the woman said "I'm not even Mexican." While at least one other protester yelled insults at the lieutenant after his comment, the woman he directed the comment said "stalking my Instagram? F***ing weirdos."
Cmdr. Michael McGinnis, the director of the Professional Standards Bureau, said he was "appalled" when he first saw the video, but the extended video added more context.
"As you watch that video, it seems like the Lt. made a statement that was derogatory towards someone's race or their national origin. I think any of you would probably interpret that the same, seeing that video, hearing that very short clip," McGinnis said.
"When you add that context, it changes the egregiousness of the interaction, though it does not eliminate concerns that Chief White has, it does change the storyline," he went on to say, noting the department is continuing its investigation and evaluating the situation for possible policy evaluations.
The lieutenant, identified in social media reports as Lt. Brandon Cole, was relieved of his duties related to the Mobile Field Force, the unit assigned to monitoring protests and demonstrations, and he has also been placed on administrative duty.
Authorities are still investigating to determine exactly how the lieutenant knew of the protester's travel to Mexico.
White told reporters Monday the particular protester involved in the incident is believed to have previously communicated personal information about the lieutenant, including his marital status.
"We're looking into how she obtained those and precisely what's going on with that," White said.
The woman at the center of the incident, activist Lexis Zeidan, believes Detroit police have been monitoring her social media activity, according to comments on her Instagram page.
"Members of this protest group, there's evidence to suggest that they've been posting personal information about officers," McGinnis said. "It's evident from the video that there's some sort of knowledge both ways between the officer and the protester and the other way as well. That's gonna be part of our investigation."
White said Monday multiple times the department supports the people's right to protest peacefully.
"And we're never gonna interfere with that," he said. "My expectation for a lieutenant is that they perform at a high level, that they lead the men and women of this department and that you don't get into that personal engagement so there's no room for someone to misconstrue anything. This is not what we're looking for from our lieutenants and we will deal with that when our investigation is completed."
Detroit police officials said Monday two people were arrested during Sunday's protests and eight others were detained, ticketed and released.
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