Two New Orleans police officers were charged with battery this week after beating up a man they decided was a “fake American,” reports CBS News. The officers were white and the victim hispanic; they told him they “didn’t like his camouflage clothing.”
Spencer Sutton and John Galman were booked on one count each of simple battery in connection with the beating of Jorge Alberto “George” Gomez early Tuesday, reports CBS affiliate WWL-TV.
Gomez said the two off-duty officers, who are white, began harassing him inside Mid-City Yacht Club, saying they didn’t like his camouflage clothing and asking him whether he had served in the military, reports the New Orleans Advocate. Gomez said he told the men he was born in the U.S. but was raised in Honduras before he returned to live in New Orleans and served in the National Guard, but the men wouldn’t accept his answer.
WWL-TV confirmed that Gomez, who is Hispanic, served with the Louisiana National Guard.
The cops tried to claim Gomez was the aggressor, but surveillance video made liars of them.