The NAACP is getting involved in the controversy surrounding some e-mails East Hampton police chief Matt Reimondo sent last year from a town computer.
Reimondo is under fire over what some residents are calling racist emails. One email depicts President Obama as a witchdoctor. Another shows a rap musician with spiky braids and suggests he was shot like a deer.
Reimondo sent the emails last year but they came to light last week when a former city councilor filed a complaint
A letter of reprimand was sent to the chief and made public at Tuesday's city council meeting.
Reimondo has apologized, but NAACP officials said the town’s investigation didn't go far enough and they might ask state and federal lawmakers to cut the town's funding.
“We're not in agreement to just a written reprimand, and we think something like this needs to be dealt with on a higher level,” Scot X Esdaile, President of the Connecticut NAACP, said.
Resident Peter Brown called the emails "very upsetting.
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"The chief's supporters called the controversy a "witch hunt" and a political move to get rid of Reimondo.
“I do believe that it's nothing more than retaliation and this is the length that they'll go to,” Angela Sarahina, of East Hampton, said.
The former town manager and the council eliminated the chief’s position last year, but voters re-instated Reimondo in the fall.
The chief did not attend Tuesday’s meeting, but his lawyer denied a racial motivation for the emails.
The NAACP is investigating to see if any state or federal laws were violated.
