Video has just been released of a Phoenix Police officer fired for unprofessional conduct. That officer wore a department-issued body camera for three months. The video captured by that body camera led to his termination.
This all started with one complaint against the officer for unprofessional conduct. Investigators went back and looked at all of his body camera videos. He was eventually fired after what they saw.
Video: "Turn around and look at me because I'm [expletive] talking to you, you piece of [expletive] now get the [expletive] over here."
Officer Richard Greco on a domestic violence call: "What in the [expletive] is your problem? What do I want you to say? Why can't you get along with your family? Why are you pulling your wife out of the car? Then [expletive] you, you're going to jail."
And on another call talking to a possible victim of domestic violence: "I've got one tool, that tool is to beat people up and take them to jail."
Then he said this to an African-American driver: "Do you have a license? To be honest I would be surprised if you did."
Greco: "Do you ever hear the words that are coming out of your mouth? Turn off the car. Sit there. Idiot."
And to a suspect in back of his patrol car.
Suspect: "Don't talk to me I'll cry in my own blues."
Greco: "[expletive], you [expletive] I'll talk to you all I want to. You're in my [expletive] patrol car."
Suspect: "Yes sir."
Greco: "That's more like it."
Suspect: "Can I cry?"
Greco: "Yeah go ahead please."
Suspect: "Don't call me a [expletive]."
Greco: "Okay."
Suspect: "Thank you officer."
Greco: "You're welcome, [expletive]."
And this is what Greco said to another officer about a woman more than 8 months pregnant who got into an argument with her boyfriend.
Greco: "She chose to open her legs for him all right. She's just as much of a willing participant... She decided to play this game when went out on a second date with this guy."
Greco was interviewed by internal investigators about these videos.
Raw video taken from an officer's body camera shows him behaving 'unprofessionally' while interacting with the public. UNCENSORED VIDEO [Caution: Explicit language]: http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/video?clipId=9075030
"Looks like I said, 'it doesn't matter what I got to say then [expletive] you're going to jail.'"
Greco told investigators he stands by most of what he said.
"In the heat of the moment it fit what was going on. He wasn't cooperating with the investigation. Some people, you know, they don't understand polite words. They won't cooperate."
"I'm not trying to make us sound like a bunch of Neanderthals. I'm just using an exaggeration, a little funny, to kind of reset the conversation and get them focused on where they're going from here."
After being asked by the internal investigator, "Do you feel that was professional or unprofessional?" Greco said, "My own litmus test is if I don't go home and lose sleep over it, it's not the end of the world. Not a single one of these people complained about me so that seems to tell me that they didn't think it was a problem either."
Greco worked for the department as a patrol officer for about 10 years. He appealed his termination and lost.
Of the few videos singled out, more than 200 were reviewed and checked out okay, Greco argued.