Cincinnati Police Officer Patrick Caton has been stripped of his police powers after allegedly using a racial slur that was recorded inside his cruiser, the president of the police union said Tuesday.

Officer Caton, who's still under internal investigation for his role in the November 2000 arrest and death of Roger Owensby Jr., used the racial epithet while alone in his cruiser Oct. 1, said Roger Webster, president of the Fraternal Order of Police.

Caton

The officer admitted he used the epithet, Mr. Webster said, but blamed it on his frustration with gridlocked traffic.

Officer Caton apparently was trying to navigate congested city streets to respond to an officer-needs-help call, Mr. Webster said.

Officer Caton was also frustrated, the union president said, because the investigation of his actions during the death of Mr. Owensby has dragged on for nearly two years.

Officer Caton insisted to superiors he doesn't usually use the word, Mr. Webster said.

“It was in the confines of the closed police car with the windows up,” the union president said.

“It wasn't directed at anybody, it wasn't meant for anyone.”

The word was recorded by the mobile video recorder in Officer Caton's cruiser and found three days later by another officer reviewing the tape for another reason. That officer told a supervisor, Mr. Webster said.

The recorders come on automatically when a cruiser's lights and sirens are operating.

But Officer Caton did not realize, Mr. Webster said, that the recorders also turn on when the air horn is pushed. He had pushed the horn to try to clear the traffic out of his way.

“Should that word be used? No,” Mr. Webster said. “But I understand the frustration he's been through.”

Officer Caton's police powers have been suspended, and he's been put on a desk job, Mr. Webster said.

The department did not release any information about the issue Tuesday. Chief Tom Streicher is out of town. Officer Caton could not be reached for comment.

Some African-American leaders, who have been demanding administrative discipline for Officer Caton for more than a year, expressed anger at the news.

Some called for his immediate firing. Others said it's further reason why Hamilton County Prosecutor Mike Allen should retry the Owensby case.

“He needs to be fired, plain and simple,” said Norma Holt Davis, president of the Cincinnati branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. “He's a huge liability to the Cincinnati Police Department.”

The Rev. Damon Lynch III, president of the Cincinnati Black United Front, said the incident proves what many African-Americans have suspected about Officer Caton all along.

“It just shows the racist that he is,” said the Rev. Mr. Lynch. “Clearly the Cincinnati Police Department needs to root out people like Caton who hold these views toward African-Americans.”

Mr. Webster said he thinks the situation is being handled differently than it might be with another officer.

Officer Caton, 36, a former Marine, was hired in January 1997.

He previously was reprimanded for failing to make a report and for being in possession of a gun while driving under the influence and while off-duty.

He was suspended for 24 hours for the off-duty DUI.

In November 2001, Officer Caton was found not guilty of assault in the death of Mr. Owensby. A separate jury also found another officer, Robert “Blaine” Jorg, not guilty of assault.

That jury could not decide, however, on a more serious charge of involuntary manslaughter.

Mr. Allen declined to retry him. Officer Jorg now works for Pierce Township police in Clermont County. Mr. Owensby died Nov. 7, 2000, after his arrest in the parking lot of a Roselawn gas station.

Roger Owensby Sr., his father, said he didn't know whether this new information would strengthen his family's multimillion-dollar wrongful death lawsuit against the city and police department or sway the county prosecutor to retry his son's case.

“Caton being pulled off the street ... has been a long time coming,” Mr. Owensby said.

“I don't wish anybody any ill will or to be hurt in any way,” he said. “I'm just glad that everything is coming out the way it's coming out and everybody can see what I've been saying all along.”

Mrs. Davis of the NAACP said incidents like this one show why having such recording devices in police cruisers is so important.

“Police officers behave inappropriately just like anybody else,” Mrs. Davis said. “We can't read people's minds, but if he's stupid enough to utter racist comments, then they should be recorded.”

E-mail kaldridge@enquirer.com and jprendergast@enquirer.com

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