HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) - Three police officers from the University of Alabama at Huntsville were fired following a review of a traffic stop where a Black teen was asked if he had drugs or a dead prostitute in his car, officials said.
Interim Police Chief Steven Anderson said a review of the October incident led to the termination of the former police chief, a captain and the officer involved in the traffic stop, the school announced Tuesday.
Anderson was appointed interim chief Oct. 22, news outlets reported.
The teen’s mother, Chanda Crutcher, posted her concerns about the incident on social media.
Crutcher said her 17-year-old son was traveling home from work on the evening of Oct. 3 when he was stopped by the officers for what was said to be a cracked tail light. Crutcher, who said she watched body camera video of the traffic stop, wrote that her son’s vehicle was then searched.
Her post said one officer referred to her son as “brother” and asked him several times if he had drugs “or a dead prostitute” in his car.
School President Darren Dawson apologized two days after the post, stating the “words and actions” of campus police during the traffic stop “do not represent who we are as an institution.”
On Tuesday, the school echoed the sentiment, adding that officers have received extra training in “identifying implicit and explicit bias, de-escalation techniques (and) community policing.”
The officers’ names were not immediately released.
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