A tale of racism and privilege has gripped the small town of Clatskanie, Oregon after its veteran police chief was not only able to take administrative leave following an incident, but step down with honors and commendation.
Former Clatskanie Police Chief Marvin Hoover, 56, who has been sidelined since early August, recently retired amid accusations that he called and pretended to act like a monkey towards a Black woman. Those accusations were not just of the woman, but two of Hoover’s fellow officers as well.
Officers Dustin Stone, Shaun McQuiddy and Zack Gibson were all present at the Clatskanie police station when the woman threatened to file it a report for discrimination. It was then, according to the official report filed with the Oregon Department of Public Safety obtained by KOIN, did Stone detail the racist nature of the encounter.
“I relayed several of the arrestee’s remarks such as, ‘When you look at me, my Black skin and my nappy hair, all you see is an animal,’” Officer Stone wrote in the incident report. “Chief Hoover interrupted me and said ‘That’s what she is.’”
“As Chief Hoover was comparing African-Americans to monkeys, I began to become extremely uncomfortable,” Stone continued. “I have never been in a work environment where a manager, especially an executive officer, is openly racist.”
Then the dealbreaker came: Stone continues: “Chief Hoover then began to act like a monkey. Chief Hoover placed his hands in his armpits and began scratching them. Chief Hoover also started making loud monkey sounds: “Hooo…hooo…..hooo….hahahaha…hooo…..haaah” While Chief Hoover was scratching and chanting, he started to move around the room, in a dance or jumping fashion. While jumping and moving about the room Chief Hoover momentarily beat his chest like Tarzan.”
Later on in the report, Gibson wrote that Hoover began to sing the Dixie song with the lyrics, “In a land of cotton old time they are not forgotten” while acting as if he was punching and choking someone.
Despite the suspicious resignation, Hoover was given a hero’s sendoff for his years of service by Clatskanie Mayor Diane Pohl, who published a Letter to the Editor in The Chief newspaper which read:
“I consider Chief Hoover an honorable man and officer. And so I say, thanks Chief Hoover for a job well done. You have this community’s gratitude, gratefulness and appreciation.”
Stone, on the other hand, has reportedly been given the whistleblower treatment by his fellow citizens as he told KOIN that his wife has been “forced off the road” a couple of times, been called the n-word and random cars showing up to his house “scaring his children.”
The community is now attempting to band together.
[The Root]
—
Photo: Clatskanie Police Department
