Phila. officer, accused of slurs, to be reinstated

An arbitrator on Friday reinstated a Philadelphia police officer fired last year after he was quoted in a Temple University student publication as using a racial slur and making other incendiary remarks.

The officer, William Thrasher, denied uttering the phrase "TNS" or "typical n- s-" while a student journalist accompanied him on patrol in North Philadelphia. Thrasher is white.

The arbitrator backed the officer and questioned the credibility of the journalist, Shannon McDonald, partly because she refused to turn over her notes from the ride-along.

"As a witness, she was defensive, deflective, and difficult," wrote the arbitrator, Charles D. Long Jr. "Without the benefit of some corroboration . . . her inconsistent and hostile testimony is insufficient to support [Thrasher's] discharge."

Other media outlets picked up McDonald's story soon after it appeared in Philadelphia Neighborhoods, the online publication of Temple's Multimedia Urban Reporting Lab.

After an internal affairs investigation, Commissioner Charles H. Ramsey fired Thrasher in April 2009. The officer's union argued that Ramsey was "under intense pressure to placate the media."

"It made great news," said Thomas W. Jennings, an attorney for the union. "The problem is that nobody had the facts."

Christopher Harper, codirector of the multimedia lab and editor of McDonald's story, said the publication stood by the accuracy of the article. He also praised McDonald.

"Shannon McDonald is one of the finest reporters I've seen, as a young reporter," he said.

Harper also noted that journalists typically refuse to provide their notes to police "unless compelled by the courts to do so."

"Journalists report; police investigate," he said. "Arbitrators determine whether the police department's actions were appropriate, not whether the story was accurate."

McDonald graduated from Temple last year and founded NEastPhilly.com, devoted to news and commentary on her native Northeast Philadelphia.

She declined comment on the arbitrator's ruling, saying, "I'm treading very lightly."

McDonald spent about two hours riding with Thrasher in January 2009. Thrasher, who was then 24 and had been on the force for two years, was assigned to patrol in the 22d District, a predominantly African American area.

In the article, titled "Black and Blue," Thrasher is quoted as describing area residents as "disgusting" and saying, "It's like they're animals."

He also is quoted as defending his views, saying, "I'm not a racist."

Thrasher admitted using the word animals "with regard to a specific homicide . . . but not about the community generally," the arbitrator wrote.

He denied using the term TNS, a phrase that Jennings said "no one has even heard of" in the police community.

"That's not cop talk. That's college student talk," he said. "That was the dead giveaway in this case."

The arbitrator ruled that Thrasher should be returned to duty with back pay and no loss of seniority. He could not be reached Friday.

Lt. Frank Vanore, a police spokesman, offered no comment other than to say the department would "follow the ruling as required."

John McNesby, president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, said he expected the outcome.

"It's just a shame this officer had to be out of work for a year," he said. "I wasn't in the car and I don't know what happened, but whatever she wrote was obviously wrong. . . . Her imagination went wild."

Rochelle Bilal, the president of the Guardian Civic League, an organization of black officers, said she was "shocked" and wondered how the arbitrator could "question the credibility of someone who has no reason to lie."

"Maybe they need to start looking at some of these arbitrators. Saying racial slurs in reference to us means nothing to them," she said. "The mouth continues to demolish the credibility of the department, especially in communities that look like us."