Citizens review board discusses OPD officer's racist rant

ORLANDO, Fla. — The citizens review board reviewed Wednesday the punishment for an Orlando police officer who made a controversial Facebook post about black people.

Officer Robert Schellhorn was suspended for 80 hours after the investigation into the post in which he called black people savages, athletes and thugs.

Read: Sources: OPD officer reassigned over social media rant

The board was supposed to decide if that discipline was adequate.

T.J. Legacy Cole filed the complaint against Schellhorn. He said during the citizen’s board meeting that the punishment handed down by Orlando police didn't go far enough.

“You have betrayed the community's trust when you do something like that. You are unfit to serve; you have dishonored the uniform,” Cole said.

Schellhorn made the comment on another officer’s Facebook post. That officer had reposted some comments made about where the athletes were in their support for police after two Kissimmee police officers were shot and killed in August 2017.

Channel 9's Shannon Butler was at Wednesday's hearing, where board members said they felt something was left out of the presentation.

Internal affairs also received a complaint against Fraternal Order of Police President Shawn Dunlap.

Investigators found Dunlap did not do anything wrong, but the board wondered why Dunlap was included in the investigation involving Schellborn and the complaint was not presented to the board separately.

“I didn't know that internal affairs gets to pick and choose what citizens complaints they get to bring before this board,” said board member Henry Lim.

The board asked the head of internal affairs to go back and bring both findings to the board again.

Dwain Rivers, head of Orlando Police Internal Affairs, said Dunlap cannot be investigated twice under the officer's bill of rights, but still the board persisted.

Orlando Police Chief John Mina stood by Schellhorn’s discipline but told the board, “No one is more ashamed or embarrassed by the conduct and statements of Officer Schellhorn as I am as the leader of this agency.”

Schellhorn admitted that, in hindsight, he should not have made those comments.

He is back patrolling the streets.

Cox Media Group