A University of Nevada, Reno cop who thought celebrating Halloween in a racist
Colin Kaepernick costume would be a great idea found out just how wrong he was, and quickly.
Officer Antonio Gutierrez, who’s employed at the school
Kaepernick once attended, donned a wig, fake nose, and painted on black beard with a homemade 49ers jersey and a “will stand for food” sign, to a party over the weekend.
One Twitter user posted a picture of Gutierrez in his tasteless costume, accompanied by the message, “Hey @unevadareno! one of your officers, Antonio Gutierrez, decided to go as a racist portrayal of #Kaep last night.…” The profile was later set to private, but not before the photo made its rounds on the social media circuit. Instagram photos of the costume also surfaced.
In response, the University of Nevada, Reno, police department apologized for the officer’s actions.
“For those who have seen the
Halloween costume of one of our officers apparently mocking a citizen who has chosen to take advantage of his constitutional right to protest, I offer my sincere apologies,”UNR Police Chief Adam Garcia said in a statement. “Members of our profession are held to a higher standard and denigrating another — on or off duty — is insensitive for its lack of respect and lack understanding on how others may negatively view their actions and may be impacted.”
Though the department condemned the actions of their officer, the school said that Gutierrez would not face disciplinary action. UNR spokeswoman Kerri Garcia told the
Reno Gazette Journal that though the officer’s decision was “insensitive and inappropriate,” the college does not have a policy that would dictate disciplinary action.
The incident comes on the heels of a complaint filed by a UNR graduate student who claims that the same police department exhibited threatening behavior during a routine traffic stop.
