The Antioch Police Department’s racist text messaging scandal took center stage in court Friday where a judge is set to decide if they violated the state’s Racial Justice Act and the future of a homicide case is in the balance.
Community members rallied outside the courthouse where eight officers were expected to answer questions about disturbing, racist text messages uncovered by investigators.
“We want to hear from the officers’ own words, how they’re gonna account for what they’ve sent in these text messages,” said Frank Sterling Jr. of Reimagine Antioch.
“One officer bragged about how good he was at racial profiling individuals. We have a situation where officers exchanged animal memes of brown and Black people based on race, and we have four young Black men on trial here,” said Contra Costa County Public Defender Ellen McDonnell.
Among those subpoenaed was Antioch Police Chief Steven Ford who announced this week he’s retiring.
Chief Ford was also a target of a recent message -- a racist meme.
The judge ruled Ford does not need to testify because the messaging in this case took place a year before he started working at the department.
But the officers will be required to take the stand and explain the messages they exchanged while investigating a 2021 homicide case involving four Black suspects.
“He said he kicked his head like a field goal and he meant that. Because I looked it up he was a professional soccer player in college,” said the defendant’s mother Shirelle Cobbs. “He said his foot hurt that’s how hard he kicked my son.”
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Cobbs’ son is one of the defendants the officers targeted and she believes the case should be dismissed. Defense attorneys agree and they plan to grill the officers.
“I hope that they testify. I hope that they take the stand and account for their actions. That’s what I hope,” said Carmela Caramagno.
The hearing will continue late next month. The judge says he’ll allow the officers to have their attorneys at their side as they testify.
