MELBOURNE, Fla. — A police sergeant accused of making off-color remarks on the job is defending his words.
“I have never been a racist. I never will be a racist,” said Sgt. Blake Lanza of the Melbourne Police Department.
He told Channel 9 he’s going to fight to stay on the force.
Raw: Melbourne sergeant accused of making off-color remarks speaks out
Lanza is under investigation after his fellow officers said he harassed and demeaned them on the clock.
Lanza said he feels as though his dismissal is a foregone conclusion and wants his side of the story to be told.
Lanza admits he could have been more sensitive with his words, but said he's not the sexist or racist a recent internal affairs investigation makes him out to be.
"I love working for the city of Melbourne. I can't stand by when all these allegations are being made against me. It's prejudged," said Lanza.
Lanza was found to be in violation of a dozen different policies from harassment to his professional demeanor.
He was promoted to sergeant in 2012.
Next week, he’ll have to defend himself and show his superiors why he shouldn’t be fired.
“I was not given fair and partial investigation, which I deserve,” said Lanza.
Lanza was accused of making sexually and racially insensitive comments, calling an African-American officer “token” or “Chocodile” and a Hispanic officer “cashew.”
Lanza insisted they were all nicknames.
The latter came from a mispronunciation of an officer’s surname.
The others are a South Park character and a snack treat.
“In no way, shape or form was it meant to be derogatory toward any person. Whether it be a black person, a female or anyone else,” said Lanza.
Larry Carter, a diversity trainer and retired Melbourne police officer, has known Lanza for 20 years.
“I’ve never known him to be racist or sexist. I talked to other people in the agency and they have no idea where the charges came from,” Carter said.
“My friends and family are scared. They don’t even want to go out with me and I can’t blame them for the way I’ve been portrayed by my own department,” Lanza said.
Lanza said he tried to submit some independent polygraph results to his department.
He said during the polygraph, when he was asked if off-color humor was common practice for officers, he answered yes, truthfully.
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