INDIANAPOLIS — UPDATE: Greenwood Chief of Police James Ison confirmed Officer Elijah Allen resigned from the Greenwood Police Department on Oct. 19. Allen's disciplinary hearing scheduled for Oct. 30 was subsequently canceled.
Officer Sam Bowen watched as the Greenwood Police Merit Board voted Thursday to terminate his employment.
He was accused of violating the department's Information and Technology Use, Mobile Data Center Use and Standards of Conduct policies.
"Samuel Bowen on multiple occasions used his department issued mobile data computer to send racial slurs and profanity and unprofessional comments to his shiftmates," Martha McQueen read during the meeting.
Bowen left the meeting without saying a word, but his attorney, Jay Meisenhelder, said the now-former officer is saddened by the decision.
"The merit commission overlooked what we believe is clear evidence of retaliation by (Greenwood Police) Chief (James) Ison. Now we are going to prove that in a lawsuit in federal court," Meisenhelder said.
Bowen told the board he thinks the whole investigation started in response to a lawsuit he filed against the department in June.
During a hearing Wednesday, Bowen took the stand and called the messages "humor with friends" to help deal with stress after a difficult two years. He also denied racially profiling anyone.
"He is not proud of what he did," said Meisenhelder. "In fact, he admitted he did make those tweets and he shouldn't have. That doesn't mean they weren't retaliation for filing his lawsuit."
Merit Board member Tom Brogan explained his vote.
"You talk about friendship, you talk about stress relief, you talk about the cliqueality of the group. You're using hurtful words on people, on your own brothers and sisters in arms in this department. There's a lot of shame going around for a lot of people," said Brogan.
Meisenhelder said his client admits what he did was wrong but still feels there are issues within the Greenwod Police Department that need addressed.
"He brought that lawsuit originally because he felt he could address those issues," said Meisenhelder.