International News

LOS ANGELES, (APP/AFP) – A senior official at the Los
Angeles County sheriff’s department resigned Sunday following criticism over e-mails he sent disparaging blacks, Muslims, Latinos and women, the department said in a statement.
Sheriff Jim McDonnell said he accepted the resignation of his
chief-of-staff Tom Angel after the emergence of emails he forwarded from his
work account while serving as a top police official in Burbank city near Los
Angeles in 2012 and 2013.
According to the Los Angeles Times, which obtained a copy of the
emails, one message on January 7, 2012 lists a series of terrorist attacks attributed to “devout Muslim male extremists” and says “Muslims, gotta love em can’t punish em…….?”
Another e-mail read: “I was asked to name two things commonly found
in cells. Apparently ‘Blacks’ and ‘Mexicans’ were NOT the correct answers.”
McDonnell said he found the e-mails both “inappropriate and
unprofessional” and “deeply troubling.
“Chief Angel has offered his resignation, and I have accepted it,” he
said, adding he hoped to turn the situation into “a learning opportunity” for all personnel in the sheriff’s department.
Officials at the sheriff’s office in Burbank could not be reached for
comment, but Angel had earlier told the Times he did not mean to embarrass or demean anyone, saying it was unfortunate his work emails had not remained
private.
“Anybody in the workplace unfortunately forwards emails from time to
time that they probably shouldn’t have forwarded,” Angel told the Times. “I
apologize if I offended anybody, but the intent was not for the public to have seen these jokes.”
The resignation comes after three San Francisco police officers left
their jobs last week after they were found to have sent racist and homophobic text messages and emails in which they referred to minorities as “barbarians” and “wild animals.”