Springfield, Illinois – We have learned through multiple sources that a white Springfield Police Officer sent a text message to a black Springfield Police Officer with a screenshot from Urban Dictionary of the definition of a “House Nigger.” After the Officer was fired, as a result of this Internal Affairs Complaint, the Springfield Police Benevolent and Protective Unit #5, which is the union for the Springfield Police Department, is now trying to get the fired Springfield Police Officer back on the job.
According to multiple sources, fired Springfield Police Officer, James Foxx sent a racial text message to Springfield Police Officer, Lawrence Williams. In that text message, Foxx said to Williams, “You got me out her feeling like the 800 house nigga,” and sent a screenshot picture of the urban dictionary definition of house nigger. According to our sources, the officers were watching a house in beat 800, which is an area on the North side of Springfield.
When we asked for the the internal affairs documents regarding this incident, the city denied our request and said, “Specifically, the City terminated this employee, however, the Union filed a grievance regarding this termination. This grievance will result in an arbitration (or an “adjudication of an employee grievance”) in order to determine the final outcome of the case.). So simply put, the Police Union disagreed with the City’s firing of the officer and is appealing. Until that appeal process is complete, the City will not release the internal affairs files.
Our source said they were informing us of this Internal Affairs complaint because by time the City decides to release this Internal Affairs file, fired Officer Foxx may be back on the job as a result of the union’s help.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Although Mayor Jim Langfelder has been pushing for the City Council to discuss officer misconduct in executive session, he has also been limiting the amount of information that is released through the Freedom of Information Act. Springfield Leaks has been making multiple attempts for access to various internal affairs files and documents, but there has been significant push back from the Langfelder Administration. The city has been extending the time limits for responding to certain documents pertaining to officer misconduct and only releasing summaries of files instead of the complete files. We encourage the members of City Council to stop the secrecy of officer misconduct and discuss these problems in front of the people who elected you to your position.
Fired Officer James Foxx was hired by the Springfield Police Department on January 2, 2018. According to previous press releases released by the City at the time Foxx graduated from the Macon County Law Enforcement Training Center, he was a graduate from Glenwood High School and attending the University of Illinois Springfield. He was also a member of the U.S. Army.
