Magistrate targeted by former officers’ racist comments speaks out

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — A New Hanover County Magistrate, who was a target of three former Wilmington Police officers’ hate-filled speech, is responding to the comments.

The former officers, identified as Michael Kevin Piner, Jesse Moore II and James B. Gilmore, were fired earlier this week for using racial slurs or making derogatory comments towards African Americans. Some of those comments included using the n-word when referring to Magistrate Maurice Daniel Sr.

Just days after their firing, Police Chief Donny Williams explains why it was important to fire the officers, instead of letting them resign.

“Normally when officers are involved in misconduct, they’ll resign and they’ll slip away quietly, and in some cases, they’ll be able to maintain their certification and get a job with another agency,” Williams said. “In this case, these individuals do not deserve to be in law enforcement.”

In the accidentally activated car camera video, Piner and Moore were heard making derogatory comments about Daniel Sr. that included the n-word.

Daniel Sr. released a statement Friday in response to the comments:

“We praise the Chief of the Wilmington Police Department and local officials for their timely and positive response to disheartening officer misconduct.
We have compassionate and wise leadership to correct, restore and maintain confidence in the fairness of our judicial system.

How do we come to know the true heart and mind of others? That’s very difficult to do. Most officers, judicial officials, and public servants are professional, reliable, and genuinely devoted to the peace, happiness and security of our communities and nation.

We wish the dismissed officers all the best in life, and hope they awaken to a more enlightened mindset that best serves the well-being of their families and all of us.
Please let me say, in the interest of healing and judicial harmony, We are Americans, and we are winners. We are winners because we are courageous and free people, constantly striving for self-reliance in an atmosphere of fairness.

As parents, grandparents and servants of our community and nation, we turn greed, anger, foolishness, hatred and jealousy into positive prospects. We turn the vile into virtue.

We’ll turn poison into good medicine, without fear, guilt or regret, but with Prayer, compassion and Gratitude for Life, liberty, joy, our beloved America and humanity.”

Piner worked at the Wilmington Police Department for just over 22 years.

Moore was at the department for 23 years. During that time, his personnel file notes he “separated” from the department in 1999, and was reinstated just four days later.

Gilmore would’ve been at the department for 23 years in July. His personnel file notes he took a leave of absence without pay in 2011, was demoted from Corporal to Officer and returned to work a few weeks later.

Aside from wanting more African American people and women on his police force, Williams says it boils down to one thing.

“The color of a person’s skin is not going to determine the color of their heart,” Williams. “You have white officers who are good officers, and you have white officers who are bad officers. you have black officers who are good officers, and you have black officers who are bad officers. so the color of their heart is more important to me than the color of their skin.”

The District Attorney’s Office is in the process of investigating a combined 89 cases involving the three former officers for any potential racial bias.