Leominster Police Officer Suspended For Racial Slur Directed At Carl Crawford

While Carl Crawford was on his rehab assignment with the Portland Sea Dogs, a Leominster police officer, John Perrault, allegedly yelled a racial slur at Crawford before a game. Leominster conducted an investigation as to whether or not it was indeed directed at Crawford, and after a Wednesday morning press conference, the result is that the officer is suspended for the outburst.

With pay.

A paid shame-vacation isn't much of a penalty, one would think, especially for someone who had no problems yelling a racial slur -- supposedly, "monday", a way for people to keep racism going in public with less of a chance of getting caught due to its use as an everyday word as well. The word, which UrbanDictionary.com even has an entry for, isn't so much of a secret that the unnamed officer was able to get away with it, as Crawford reported the incident to stadium officials after hearing it while signing autographs.

According to mayor Dean Mazzarella of Leominster:

...whether Monday qualifies as a racial epithet was not an issue for investigators. What was relevant to them, he said, was the fact that Crawford believed it to be a racial slur.

So, good on Leominster for taking the initiative to do something about this. Bad on Leominster -- and more so than there's good -- for essentially handing the officer paid time off for the indiscretion, despite a racist remark that came from someone who wields power over the law and citizenry of Leominster as a 9-to-5.

That is, if this is all it ends up being. It's possible that, with a more official hearing scheduled for next Wednesday, that Perrault will still be fired for this incident, and that the paid suspension is simply a formality until that time. In which case, we're back to "good on Leominster" territory.