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Mauldin police officer Tony Koutsos, whose racial slur during a 2019 high school football game came to light recently because of public records requests, has been fired from the police department.
In a South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy record made public Friday, the Mauldin Police Department wrote that Koutsos was terminated because he does not have the ability to carry out his duties.
The police department said that the termination was not because of misconduct but was because Greenville County Schools asked that Koutsos, a school resource officer, be removed from the pool of officers eligible for zone patrol and for providing security at athletic events.
Updated: 2:38 PM EDT May 14, 2021 A Mauldin police officer has been fired after he was accused of using a racial slur with a former student while working at a football game, according to the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy. According to a statement in Anthony Koutsos file, on or around Oct. 30, 2019, Officer Koutsos used a racial slur during communication with a former MHS student while working the Mauldin/Hillcrest football game. READ THE FULL PERSONNEL FILE HERE.The report indicates that even though the officer and former student were/are good friends and may consider language of this type as non-offensive, it must be recognized that others around them could likely be offended by the language used. Records show Koutosos was removed from the Mauldin Police Department on May 7 for a policy violation. The records do not say what the violation was. Earlier this month more than a dozen community activists, some with the South Eastern New Black Panther Party, gather
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A Black father attending a South Carolina high school football game with his family and young daughters overheard the moments Mauldin police officer Tony Koutsos repeatedly used a racial slur at a 2019 game, according to a personnel file made public Monday.
The father never said a word. He only looked back at Koutsos and then down at his little girls.
Those details are included in Koutsos personnel file, provided to The Greenville News late Monday in response to a Freedom of Information request. The file provides more information about what happened than has previously been made public by city officials or the Mauldin Police Department.