The College Fix

This may be the first time Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” got an on-duty cop in trouble.

The Chicago Police Department has suspended a cop for 10 days who says he was honoring the University of Alabama by playing the Southern anthem in his patrol car on Saturday. (UA was playing the University of Missouri for the SEC championship.)

The problem? He was working a Black Lives Matter march.

The Chicago Tribune reports that there’s a video going around from the march showing the officer in his car “blasting” the song, which “some consider racially offensive.”

The department said it “fully understands sensitivities related to the song and, regardless, we cannot condone any behavior that may be viewed as disruptive or disrespectful to any protester or resident.”

It followed with this non sequitur: “CPD is dedicated to ensuring residents’ right to free speech and peaceful assembly.”

Here’s how it went down:

Gabriel Michael, a Humboldt Park resident, said he was at the West Side protest Saturday to take photos but started capturing video once he heard the song coming from what appears to be an unmarked car in the police escort following the marchers.

“Some of the lyrics in themselves aren’t racist … but I know it’s also been co-opted by groups, maybe bigoted groups, as an anthem of Southern pride and those Confederate-type values,” said Michael, 30.

It’s unclear how the officer could have intended to taunt the marchers: Michael acknowledges that most of the protesters were ahead of the police escort.

Read the Tribune story.

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