--- description: The Detroit Police Department said Monday it had fired an officer after he posted a picture on Snapchat with a racist caption. title: Detroit Police Officer Fired After Posting Racist Snapchat image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7999141ae3c525bf/698935680a4a2211ad9d3318/kansas-city-police-shooting.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Michigan](/tag/michigan/) ## Michigan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Detroit Police Officer Fired After Posting Racist Picture on Snapchat by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Sep 24, 2018 11:28 PM CUT  © Rick Elkins—Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Gajanan is an editor at TIME. Sep 24, 2018 11:28 PM CUT A Detroit police officer was fired Monday after posting a picture on Snapchat with a racist caption that went viral. Sean Bostwick, who worked in the 12th Precinct, posted a picture of himself on Snapchat with the caption, “Another night to Rangel (sic) up these zoo animals,” before starting his Sunday shift. Bostwick misspelled the word “wrangle.” The photo spread after John Bennett, a former Detroit police officer, posted it [on his Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10216599530130250&set=a.1370776679004&type=3&theater "undefined"), writing: “This is a newly appointed Detroit Police Officer. The caption speaks for itself.” Detroit police chief James Craig said he met with Bostwick on Monday and that he decided to fired him during the discussion. “He did express some remorse, but I certainly advised him in a very strong way that this has placed a stain not just on our department, but the entire organization,” Craig said during a [news conference](https://www.facebook.com/detroitpolice/videos/2143380759206987/ "undefined") Monday. “He is off of our payroll effective tomorrow morning.” Bostwick was two months out of training in the police academy after being hired in June 2017\. Bostwick was still a probationary officer when he posted the photo, Craig said. The commander overseeing his training felt he needed additional time in his fieldwork. Bostwick being on probation expedited his firing, according to Craig. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5405305/detroit-police-officer-snapchat/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5405305/detroit-police-officer-snapchat/"},"headline":"Detroit Police Officer Fired After Posting Racist Picture on Snapchat","datePublished":"2018-09-24T23:28:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T21:31:50.425Z","description":"Sean Bostwick was fired Monday after the post went viral","url":"https://time.com/5405305/detroit-police-officer-snapchat/","keywords":["Michigan","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7999141ae3c525bf/698935680a4a2211ad9d3318/kansas-city-police-shooting.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7999141ae3c525bf/698935680a4a2211ad9d3318/kansas-city-police-shooting.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Kansas-City-police-shooting","caption":"Police Cars with Lights","creditText":"© Rick Elkins—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/michigan/","name":"Michigan"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5405305/detroit-police-officer-snapchat/","name":"Detroit Police Officer Fired After Posting Racist Picture on Snapchat"}}]}] ```