Meet Ryan Seweryn, an Austin, TX-based police officer. Seweryn became the object of an internal investigation which resulted in his suspension from the force following an altercation in May in which he stereotyped a #BlackLivesMatter protester as “gay.”
Seweryn’s 10-day suspension began last week and will conclude December 5. Local NBC affiliate KXAN reports that the disciplinary action resulted from an encounter in which his body camera caught him referring to a man as “that gay dude with the short shorts in the black shirt.” In a subsequent internal affairs investigation, Seweryn admitted to making the comment, saying “if there was a male in feminine clothing I would describe that individual as gay … in order for my fellow officers to identify the individual.”
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He further stated that he did not make any assumptions about the protester’s sexual orientation, but rather “the individual’s clothing was consistent with the clothing styles he believed people wore at Gay Pride parades.” Seweryn also stated that he did not believe his comments were inappropriate.
Internal affairs disagreed, and disciplined the officer with a 10-day suspension. Police records show that this is the second suspension Seweryn has faced since September, following another 10-day forced leave for making disrespectful comments to a colleague via text message.
Mister P
It certainly isn’t the worst offense we have seen by cops.
Jim
As an Austin cop he knew he was in the wrong. Good for Brian Manley.
Essie
So, he has two suspensions, how many more chances will he get before he is fired?
exgoalie
Don’t hold your breath on that… not with the killings cops have been getting away with.
edensasp
All of them…..
tjack47
A simple correction of behavior with sensitivity training would’ve sufficed for me. “That gay dude.” is about like the descriptive, “That black dude.” He requires training, education. Suspension seems a bit harsh. I believe suspension may lead to his resentment. It only causes worse discrimination in the future. “That gay dude.”, it’s reductive. It requires redirection.
Cam
Except they’ve already had training.
Kevan1
He sounds a little like a jerk, he also should have made reference to the person dressed with gay pride colors. Still, it could have worse. He could have said that fagg_t. I do not mind being called gay personally, but I am not fond of Fagg_t , or Queer. That is just me.
amanwithanedge
HOW DARE HE.
Roy Ajax
LOL. Hardly suspension worthy. I think it’s kinda funny.
Cam
Sweetie, since you trotted out this new screename, you’ve been on threads where you defended Ivanka Trump, Attacked somebody who is out of the closet, and now here are defending a cop who was suspended for mocking LGBTQ people.
You should try to be less obvious when you’re trolling for the right wing.
Cambriaguy
This is the 2nd suspension of Officer Seweryn in 2020. Seweryn had violated APD General Orders by sending a text message with a “meme” to two other officers of an image of an APD officer when he was 17 years old and was arrested for a low-level-crime. According to the memo, Seweryn received a 10-day suspension on September 3rd, 2020 for that action. The fact that Seweryn does not seem to understand that what he has been doing is wrong and a violation of Austin Police Policy indicates to me that Seweryn is either unwilling or unable to follow rules . Two Suspensions in a 3 month period of time does not indicate an Officer with a great future. Belittling a fellow Officer for an arrest at age 17 for a petty crime AND INVADING HIS PRIVACY indicates to me a profoundly Poor Police Officer.
wooly101
PC gone a muck.
Cam
How so? Seems pretty easy to describe the guy as “The guy in the shorts with this color shirt on. That would be more descriptive now wouldn’t it?
cuteguy
It’s pretty telling his surname starts with the word SEWER. Regardless, I do think it’s overly PC but what was the point of suspension if there was no sensitivity training attached? You don’t think he’s not going to do it again or something even worse?
MrMichaelJ
Not really seeing the issue here. As long as there isn’t any venom shouted out I don’t really see the problem referring to someone, especially when you’re trying to describe him, as ‘that gay dude’.
Cam
If you’re trying to identify someone, how much better is it to describe them by their height, their clothing, their height, their hair color etc.
His bigotry interfered with his ability to properly do his job.