A Michigan Cop Resigned After He Was Recorded Using Racial Slurs And Buying Drugs. Then He Got Rehired

Source: Gary Coronado / Getty

There’s a reason why there are so many people, especially Black people, who believe the entire system of policing in America needs to be thrown away. It’s not just about racist cops. And it’s certainly not about reducing the problem to “a few bad apples.” It’s about an entire rotten orchard full of police departments protecting cops from accountability, giving them a near-infinite benefit of the doubt, and, of course, rehiring them after they lost their jobs over racism, gross misconduct or both.

Meet Greg Marohn.

In March 2022, Marohn was hired as an officer of the law by the Holly Police Department in Michigan, according to ABC 7 Detroit. Less than a year-and-a-half before being hired by that department,  he had “resigned in lieu of termination” from another one, Michigan’s Oakland County Sheriff’s Department. Why was Marohn forced to resign before getting fired? Well, it’s hard to say. Maybe it was because of his “poor driving history,” as he told Holly Police Chief Jerry Narsh at the time he was hired. Or maybe it’s because he admitted to purchasing Schedule II drugs without a prescription while he was on duty. Or maybe it was because he accidentally recorded himself slinging racial slurs at Black citizens just for existing in his proximity. Maybe it was for all of those reasons. The real question is—how TF did he get rehired as a cop after all of that?

Source: (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) / Getty

ABC reported that on Dec. 4, 2020, the dash-cam on Marohn’s police cruiser turned on and started recording him. The  camera turn on automatically once an officer’s vehicle is moving at more than 90 MPH. So, where was Marohn off to in such a hurry?

From ABC:

With his dash camera recording, Marohn could be heard sending voice-to-text message from his phone.

“I’m going to need a few minutes or I don’t know what,” Marohn said, “because I need to go to the bank so it’s kind of messed right now. I have enough to loan you the hundred.”

Marohn, officials would learn, was sending texts to a man he would later admit he was purchasing schedule 2 narcotics from without a prescription.

“Loan you the hundred and then I’ll have to get it out and give the money to you tomorrow,” Marohn was recorded saying into his phone, “unless you have it and you have the pills already or whatever you did.”

Marohn would later admit to meeting the man on duty, in uniform. And the dash camera captured more.

But Marohn did more on December 4, 2020 than commit a crime, one he likely arrested and charged others people for doing, some of whom may still be incarcerated. On that day, he also proved himself to be just the type of cop who puts Black lives in danger, because he’s a volatile racist who has no business patrolling streets where non-white people travel.

More from ABC:

While arranging the meet up, Deputy Marohn passed a dark-skinned woman walking her dog and can be heard hurling racist slurs.

“(Expletive) you (expletive). Little evil (expletive). Imagine this (expletive),” he said out loud.

“Imagine this (expletive) monkey, or whatever you are, Hispanic, or (n-word). They live in a nice house and think that they’re something,” Marohn said.

If all it took for Marohn to go full Mark Fuhrman on a citizen was for him to simply pass by a racially ambiguous dark-skinned woman, one can only imagine how aggressive he was when dealing with Black suspects or random civilians that he racially profiled. He just really sounds like the kind of cop who might as well have had “I was in fear for my life” inscribed on his gun.

Anyway, upon discovery of the recording, an internal affairs investigation was launched into Marohn and he ultimately admitted to buying drugs while on the job and that he had done it approximately 10 other times before. It’s unclear if he also copped to essentially being a Klansmen with a badge, but once the investigation was concluded, the sheriff’s office moved to fire Marohn, but ultimately ended up reporting to the Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards that he “resigned in lieu of termination” for “conduct unbecoming.”

So, what did the police chief in Holly have to say about Marohn even after his past had been revealed?

“He was a good officer,” Narsh told ABC. “He treated the people of Holly and the staff here with respect.”

For the record, Holly is more than 93% white, so, yeah, maybe he was a bit more pleasant in those streets. However, he, apparently, hadn’t kicked his drug habit yet. On the 4th of July last year, Marohn reportedly arrived at his new job appearing to be in bad shape. He had “extreme difficulties” using his police radio, kept dropping his phone and couldn’t drive more than 10 MPH once he got behind the wheel. Once again, Marohn admitted to using drugs illegally and resigned. But the question still remains: How did he get rehired as a police officer in the first place?

“There was nothing specific or anything relating to addiction or medical issues that was discovered in his file,” Narsh said. He also said nothing in his new hire’s personnel file mentioned the racial slurs he verbally attacked a citizen of color with. But why TF not?

More from ABC:

To be clear, Holly Police did conduct a background investigation into Marohn, but not a complete one.

A background investigators reviewed his personnel file from Oakland County, but never saw the investigation that triggered his ouster. Due to their sensitive nature, sheriff’s officials say that internal affairs investigations are kept outside of an employee’s personnel file, but are available to review.

Efforts by Chief Narsh to obtain a copy were turned down by a county clerk, e-mails show, who told him that the department does not release copies of internal probes.

But instead of digging further, Chief Narsh says he took Marohn’s word for why he was forced out.

Marohn, Narsh said, claimed it was for a “poor driving history.”

So, yeah—maybe the system is the problem. 

SEE ALSO:

Judge Orders Release Of More Racist Text Messages From San Jose Cop Who Sent ‘I Hate Black People‘

Activists Criticize KCPD After Brutal Arrest Of Black Woman Caught On Video

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