Ft. Lauderdale brass recommends firing of an officer who spewed racist slurs: sources
A Fort Lauderdale officer may face termination after he allegedly yelled racial slurs and tried to fight a group of Black men outside a club while off-duty the morning after Thanksgiving, sources say. A department investigation revealed the racist tirade began with a night of drinking.
On May 9, Fort Lauderdale Police Chief William Schultz recommended firing Officer John Giga for violating several department policies, according to internal police documents obtained by the Miami Herald.
Giga, hired as an officer in 2008, has had past allegations of violent misconduct.
The recommendation comes after a months-long internal affairs probe, beginning in December, into an aggravated assault involving Giga in the early morning hours of Nov. 24.
When the investigation started, Giga was placed on administrative leave with pay and will remain on it until officials make a decision on his firing.
Evidence found that Giga violated four department policies: unbecoming conduct, neglect of duty and two guidelines regarding authorized use of a patrol car.
Fort Lauderdale Police Department referred a request for comment to the City Manager’s Office.
Acting City Manager Susan Grant said in a statement Thursday night, “The Chief of Police issued a recommendation of termination for Officer John Giga following an Internal Affairs investigation. The City Manager is reviewing the findings and the Chief’s recommendation and will continue to follow the established disciplinary appeal process.”
The police union that represents Giga did not immediately respond for comment.
The Broward NAACP and Public Defender Gordon Weekes will hold a press conference on Friday morning to demand the immediate termination of a “racist City of Fort Lauderdale police officer,” a release read.
‘Badly injured’ after 20-second ‘beating’
After working an afternoon shift on Thanksgiving, documents show Giga drove his patrol car to Hunters Beach Bar in Fort Lauderdale. Surveillance video showed him spending four hours inside and nearby. He took five shots of alcohol toasting with other patrons.
Around 2:40 a.m., he drove home before leaving again an hour later. He drove his patrol car around Fort Lauderdale before heading to Capone’s Nightclub.
Later in the investigation, detectives discovered he was sending dozens of texts that night to a “friend” who works at the club. Her phone was dead then, but when she finally saw the messages, she described his tone as “upset.”
“Bout to show up and f*** everyone up,” Giga texted before he arrived at Capone’s.
Giga walked into the club for less than five minutes, documents read. The woman said she saw him, was surprised and hid in an ice room. She overheard him and described him sounding angry.
A surveillance video showed him exiting the club’s parking lot and getting into a verbal fight with a group of Black men. Witnesses and the group told investigators Giga shouted the N-word toward them, documents read.
One witness said Giga repeated the N-word three to four times. He went on to say he thought Giga “escalated the situation.”
“He goes into the club...comes out... a little bit like he on something, because a lot of people don’t go around [punching] parked car windows... or calling somebody a [N-word] to their face,” the witness told investigators. “There’s plenty of Blacks out there, but he went out for one person.”
After, the men got into their cars and drove off. Giga punched one of their windows and walked alongside it.
One driver got out, prompting Giga to approach him and take a “fighting stance,“ documents read. The driver punched him in the face. A passenger in that car and a driver in another vehicle trailing them subsequently joined in and pummeled Giga for about 20 seconds.
“I’m trying to tell you...there wasn’t a fight,” the witness said. “It was literally a beating.”
A passerby found Giga unresponsive and “badly injured” after the fight. After answering questions at the scene, he was taken to Broward Health Medical Center.
Conflicting narratives
In the months following the incident, Internal Affairs and Criminal Investigation Division detectives interviewed several witnesses and officers, including Giga, to piece together what transpired. They uncovered inconsistencies and possible breaches of policy.
Fort Lauderdale Police Officer Jeremy Oberstein was the first cop to arrive and received the emergency call as an “aggravated battery” in which Giga was the victim, according to documents.
Giga told Oberstein that he was trying to break up a fight in the parking lot when he was hit by an unknown person with an unknown object. He told another arriving officer, Jose Dejo, that he was attacked by a man possibly “armed” with a bottle.
Witnesses and the men involved in the alleged assault later detailed to investigators that Giga was not breaking up a fight — nor was he randomly attacked with an object, documents read. Surveillance video corroborated their statements.
Video obtained by the Herald shows Giga seemingly knocked unconscious in the first punch, and then after he falls, the three men punch, kick and stomp on his head and upper body.
Oberstein said Giga never identified himself as a policeman. But Dejo discovered he was an officer after asking for Giga’s wallet for ID and learning it was inside his patrol car.
While discussing the case, Oberstein and Dejo turned off their body cameras and kept them off once they realized Giga was a cop. Detectives questioned this possible breach of policy, to which Oberstein replied he forgot to turn it back on.
As police continued investigating on the day of the fight, detectives were told there was continual discussion about whether Giga was on duty or off duty and whether his account of breaking up a fight was true.
Major Steven Scelfo ultimately decided that Giga was the victim of an aggravated battery while on-duty until further information was found, documents read. He directed another officer to submit a report with that narrative.
Scelfo told detectives he didn’t talk to Giga, or the others involved in the fight, before making the decision. He was only informed by the details given to him by other officers.
On March 8, Giga was interviewed by Internal Affairs investigators, who said his statement had “several inconsistencies.” He prefaced the talk by advising he suffered severe head injuries and did not have “100% recollection of what transpired that night.”
Detectives said he gave inconsistent statements on what he was doing while on-duty that day, the condition of his patrol car and that he did not drink any alcohol when he got off work, documents read.
When shown videos of a bartender serving him drinks, Giga questioned whether detectives knew if it was alcohol and continued to state he didn’t remember. He alluded he may have been drinking Red Bulls, but detectives did not see signs of that in the surveillance video.
Moving on to the fight, detectives showed him surveillance footage of what occurred to jog his memory. Giga contended that he could not remember what happened that night. However, he said it seems from the video that he talked to people, whom he noted as very nice, and had a non-antagonizing conversation over moving a car.
He continued to say it looked like somebody else had a problem with him talking with the group of “very nice” people.
Detectives noted that was inconsistent with statements made by several witnesses.
When asked if he recalled calling a group of Black men the “N-word,” Giga replied, “That’s not even in my vocabulary. I don’t use that. My girlfriend’s Black...My nephew are Black. My brother’s all Black. That’s not a part of who I am.”
History of misconduct?
The fight is not the only instance in which Giga has been accused of violent behavior. In 2013, Fort Lauderdale city worker Henry Lambert sued him for using excessive force and violating his rights the year before, court records show.
Lambert and Joe Shanks were doing bulk trash pickup for the city when they encountered Giga and Officer Joseph Curtis. The pair noticed two unoccupied Fort Lauderdale police cars when they parked their work truck nearby to finish loading trash.
While outside their truck, Giga and Curtis were making their way toward them from an apartment building, the lawsuit read. Giga allegedly began yelling at Lambert in a “hostile and aggressive manner” to move their work truck so Curtis could move his patrol car.
“...Giga’s tone was extremely loud and threatening,” the lawsuit read.
As he continued to yell, Lambert said he would be reporting his behavior to Giga’s supervisor. Lambert and Shanks moved their truck a bit further up the street, where Lambert got out to write down Giga and Curtis’ patrol car numbers.
Soon after, Giga and Curtis “aggressively” approached Lambert, the lawsuit read.
Giga yelled, “Are you going to call my supervisor?”
Curtis added, “I will call him for you, now!”
As Lambert backed away toward the work truck, Giga yelled, “No you’re not! You’re not going anywhere.” He grabbed Lambert’s right arm; Curtis snatched his left and the back of his neck. The two officers “slammed” him onto the hood of Giga’s car.
After being put in the rear of a patrol car, a Fort Lauderdale police sergeant arrived. According to the lawsuit, while Giga and Curtis explained what happened, the sergeant seemed frustrated and shook his head.
Lambert was eventually let go, and the sergeant told him he was not surprised by Giga’s actions. He went on to say he was “insubordinate to higher-ranking officers.”
The case was settled.
