Two police officers, court clerk out at Ferguson over racist emails

Two Ferguson police commanders have quit and a city court clerk was terminated after the Justice Department went public with race-charged emails via a report critical of the city’s law enforcement.

On Thursday, Capt. Rick Henke and Sgt. William Mudd resigned, sources confirmed Friday, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Also Friday, a city spokesperson said Court Clerk Mary Ann Twitty had been fired.

According to the Post-Dispatch, sources said Henke was connected to a 2008 email that suggested President Barack Obama would not be president for very long because a black man can’t hold a job. Mudd was said to be a party to an email from 2011 that suggested CrimeStoppers paid a black woman who terminated a pregnancy.

The city spokesman did not comment on the reason for the clerk’s termination – or the resignations – citing personnel matters.

Read more from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.