Oakland Schools Police Chief's Racist Tirade

SAN FRANCISCO -- Turns out the Oakland schools police chief accused of launching a boozy barrage of racial slurs at an African American sergeant on their way home from a charity golf tournament had actually brought him to the party as part of a "bonding experience."


What's more, the cash-strapped Oakland school district picked up the tab, giving Chief Pete Sarna and the sergeant, plus another sergeant on the command staff, a full day's pay to hit the greens and party it up with fellow cops from around the Bay Area at the $150-a-head event.


"It was classified as a retreat," said one school district source, who asked not to be named because the district is conducting a confidential personnel investigation of Sarna.


The district is looking into accusations that the chief, who is white, let loose July 18 with a half-hour tirade loaded with racist epithets against his two sergeants and a police driver - who apparently was called to the event at the Sequoyah Country Club in Oakland so no one would be driving drunk.


Sarna allegedly told the African American sergeant, who lives in Orinda, that "the only good n- is a dead n- and they should hang you in the town square to prevent any other n- from coming in the area."


The second sergeant, who is white, filed a complaint against Sarna with the district. The sergeant's attorney, Joe O'Sullivan, said the chief had invited his underlings to join him at the event.


As far as we have been able to determine, almost all the other officers at the charity tournament were off-duty.


Although drinking was going on at the gathering, fellow golfers said the chief did not appear to be heavily impaired when he left. What set him off on his alleged rant remains unclear.


"The three witnesses gave the same story. There is no question as to how it happened," O'Sullivan said. "The irony is they all thought he was a great chief."


The district is looking into accusations that the chief, who is white, let loose July 18 with a half-hour tirade loaded with racist epithets against his two sergeants and a police driver -- who apparently was called to the event at the Sequoyah Country Club in Oakland so no one would be driving drunk.


Sarna allegedly told the African American sergeant, who lives in Orinda, that "the only good n- is a dead n- and they should hang you in the town square to prevent any other n- from coming in the area."


The second sergeant, who is white, filed a complaint against Sarna with the district. The sergeant's attorney, Joe O'Sullivan, said the chief had invited his underlings to join him at the event.


"The three witnesses gave the same story. There is no question as to how it happened," O'Sullivan said.


Sounds like the investigation shouldn't be too difficult. If the allegations are true, this is one story that doesn't require the old "Was it racist or was it just a thoughtless and insensitive slip of the tongue?" treatment. And it's even more troubling considering that just this week, protests are under way in response to police brutality against black men by members of Oakland's police department.


Anyone who holds the views Sarna is accused of expressing -- regardless of whether alcohol was involved -- shouldn't be allowed within shouting distance of Oakland kids and certainly doesn't belong in the role of the highest law-enforcement authority in their schools.