The long saga of the Leominster police officer who shouted racist comments at Carl Crawford during a rehab appearance seems to finally have come to an end. Leominster Mayor Dean Mazzarella announced today that officer John Perrault had been fired for the incident--one which reflected a past of racially charged comments.
The move comes one day after a hearing led to a recommendation from police chief Robert Healey that Perrault be dismissed, and a week after his initial (and seemingly procedural) suspension.
It's good to see the process working in this situation. The defense from Perrault's corner has seemed rather flimsy, and any suggestion that he wasn't aware of the racial context of the term "Monday" (which based on responses from the community many had not heard of until this case prompted them to research it) is undermined by his history of racially-charged comments. Police officers are given a great deal of authority under the expectation that they will wield it responsibly, and Perrault gave his employers (including the people of Leominster) plenty of reason to believe he could not be fair and impartial.
Now we can hopefully move past this affair and back to baseball once and for all.