Smiley Refuses, But FOP Calls for Patriots’ Barmore to Apologize
GoLocalProv News Team
Smiley Refuses, But FOP Calls for Patriots’ Barmore to Apologize
Early Wednesday, Barmore was stopped by Providence Police. Barmore posted to X, “I just experienced for the first time 5 Providence cops being very unprofessional racism at its finest.”
On the body camera footage, Barmore can be seen asking police if they would like to fight, calling officers the “N-word” and threatening to sue them.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTGoLocal asked Smiley’s office on Thursday morning, "Does Mayor Smiley believe that New England Patriot Christian Barmore - who claimed Providence Police were racist - owe the officers an apology?"
But Smiley did not respond. A staffer issued his own non-responsive statement.
SEE THE VIDEO ABOVE
FOP Call for Apology
Michael Imondi, president of the Providence Fraternal Order of Police, posted to social media, “Last night, unfortunately, a member of the New England Patriots decided to publicly, on social media, falsely accuse officers of the Providence Police Department of unprofessionalism and racism. Such accusations are not taken lightly.”
“The FOP Executive Board has viewed the BWC footage available and read the statement released by the Providence Police Department, which clearly demonstrate that the police officers involved acted professionally, in accordance with policies and procedures, and with no semblance of racial bias at all,” added Imondi.
“The FOP Executive Board supports the actions taken by the officers involved in the traffic stop. The BWC footage and available information show that the officers were involved in a proper traffic stop with an individual (now known as the Patriots player) who was uncooperative, argumentative, and ultimately decided to escalate the situation and use loud inappropriate racial and threatening language towards the police officers. At all times during this incident the officers acted professionally within the scope of the law, while conducting the vehicle stop for the violations stated by the officers in the video. In the end, the individual was issued only a lawful warranted citation and was permitted to leave the scene,” stated the post.
"The situation would have and could have been nothing more than a routine traffic stop but not for the uncooperative and argumentative behavior of the driver towards the police officers, which ultimately escalated the atmosphere of the stop. For these reasons, the FOP hopes that this individual will publicly rescind his false accusations against our police officers and issue a similarly public apology,” it concluded.
On Wednesday, GoLocal asked the New England Patriots if they thought Barmore should apologize. The team did not respond.