Alabama City Disbands Entire Police Department Over Racist Text

Officials in Vincent, Alabama, disbanded an entire local police department and fired the agency’s police chief and assistant chief in response to an officer’s racist text message, according to media reports.

Vincent Mayor James Latimore confirmed Thursday that the city council passed a resolution that would disband the police department just days after the text surfaced, according to Al.com.

The text message, sent by someone identified as “752” in a screenshot of a chat, asked: “What do y’all call a pregnant slave?”

The person who sent the text then supplied an answer: “BOGO Buy one, get one free.”

The resolution included the firings of Chief James Srygley and Assistant Chief John Goss. The city council fired Srygley and Goss after Latimore initially suspended them, according to AI.com.

The city’s website previously listed Lee Carden as another officer in the police department, Al.com reported, but the website has been cleared of names as of Saturday night.

Latimore has not identified the officer who reportedly sent the text.

During a recent meeting, Vincent City Councilmember Corey Abrams said the episode “has torn this community apart.”

“It doesn’t matter what color we are as long as we [do] right by people,” Abrams said.

Abrams told the news site he was “still emotional” in the aftermath of the message.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

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