An Oregon police chief has retired after he was first placed on administrative leave for allegedly making racist remarks upon learning that a black woman threatened to file a discrimination lawsuit against him.
Clatskanie Police Chief Marvin Hoover had been on administrative leave since August after Officer Dustin Stone claimed he began acting like a monkey during a debriefing regarding a black woman's complaint, according to CBS's Portland affiliate KOIN 6 News.
"I relayed several of the arrestee's remarks such as, 'When you look at me, my black and my nappy hair, all you see is animal,'" Officer Stone wrote in his official report to the Oregon Department of Public Safety. "Chief Hoover interrupted me and said, 'That's what she is.'"
Stone continued, "Chief Hoover then began to act like a monkey. Chief Hoover placed his hands in his armpits and began scratching them. Chief Hoover also started making loud monkey sounds like 'Hooo...hooo.....hooo....hahahaha...hooo.....haaah.' While Chief Hoover was scratching and chanting, he started to move around the room, in a dance or jumping fashion. While jumping and moving about the room Chief Hoover momentarily beat his chest like Tarzan."
Later on, the report states Hoover began to sing the words to Dixieland.
"In a land of cotton...old times they're not forgotten...look away...look away...look away," and as Hoover sung, he supposedly kneeled down and began to make punching motions while pretending to choke someone, reported Complex.
Hoover then allegedly laughed before exiting the room.
Upon reporting the incident to an immediate superior, Stone was warned that he would receive some form of retaliation if Hoover's actions were made public, and that is precisely what happened, according to The Root.
Stone revealed that he and his wife have been harassed since he filed the report.
"I've already faced a lot of retaliation, my wife's been forced off the road twice," he told KOIN. "I've had people in the community yelling the N-word at me."
On Friday, Clatskanie Mayor Diane Pohl published a Letter to the Editor in The Chief newspaper regarding Chief Hoover's resignation.
"I consider Chief Hoover an honorable man and officer," Mayor Pohl wrote. "And so I say, thanks Chief Hoover for a job well done. You have this community's gratitude, gratefulness and appreciation."
