A Connecticut mayor is in hot water for making racist remarks about Latinos after four of his police officers were charged with using excessive force against undocumented immigrants. Click below to read the rest of the story.
East Haven Mayor Joseph Maturo made the controversial comments earlier this week after a local reporter asked what he’d do to reach out to the Latino community in response to the arrests.
“I might have tacos when I go home, I’m not sure yet,” the 60-year-old Republican told WPIX reporter Mario Diaz in a video that has gone viral online.
Diaz countered, “You realize that isn’t the comment to say right now, right?”
The mayor seemingly backtracked, insisting, “I might have spaghetti tonight, being of Italian descent, I’ve had ethnic food. And when you asked me what I was doing tonight, I may go out and have a Latino dinner in the Latino community. There’s nothing wrong with that. And you can twist it and turn it whichever way the press decides to do.”
The town’s Democratic Party immediately pounced and called for Maturo to resign. The state’s Gov. Dan Malloy, a Democrat, ripped the remarks as “repugnant and unacceptable.”
Connecticut’s largest paper, The Hartford Courant, also called for Maturo to step down in an editorial that declared “The Mayor is an Idiot.”
Under pressure, Maturo released an apology Wednesday, asking his community to “have faith in me.”
My sincerest apologies go out to the East Haven community and, in particular, the Latino community for the insensitive and off-collar comment that I made to WPIX reporter Mario Diaz yesterday regarding the recent events affecting our community and our police department,” the mayor said in a statement.
“Unfortunately, I let the stress of the situation get the best of me and inflamed what is already a serious and unfortunate situation. I regret my insensitive comment and realize that it is my job to lead by example.”
On Tuesday, the FBI arrested four East Haven’s police officers, which has been under the microscope since the Department of Justice launched a civil rights probe in 2009 that found a pattern of discrimination toward Latinos.
