Cop Rants
My bad! Austin police officer calls women whores, defends Ray Rice and then . . . resigns
In what is happening with alarming frequency, yet another Austin Police Department officer got caught on tape making disparaging remarks about women. This time, however, the officer, who is identified as Andrew Petrowski, wasn't in the comfort of his patrol car but instead talking to public radio station KUT reporter Joy Diaz while her recorder was on.
According to Diaz, she was waiting to interview the head of the Austin Police Association in the police union's East Austin headquarters when Petrowski approached her and started talking about the media's coverage of the Ray Rice incident.
As you may recall, Rice was suspended — and then reinstated — after video was released showing the NFL running back punching his then-fiancee in the face and knocking her to the ground. Diaz captured the officer's remarks which can be heard in full at KUT.
Said Officer Petrowski:
Now, stop and think about this. I don't care who you are. You think about the women's movement today, [women say,] 'Oh, we want to go [into] combat,' and then, 'We want equal pay, and we want this.' You want to go fight in combat and sit in a foxhole? You go right ahead, but a man can't hit you in public here? Bullshit! You act like a whore, you get treated like one!
Petrowski resigned on Dec. 12 after he was informed that KUT would be airing his remarks as part of a story. Diaz says she played the tape for APD Police Chief Art Acevedo who said, "Somebody [who] has that mentality, has no business being a cop." Yup, pretty much.
Starduster Lounge occupies a historic building on N. Main St.
Photo by Quit Nguyen
