The back of the pickup truck was filling up with garbage when the Miami police officer added Jewish scripture to the heap.
Sgt. Roberto Destephan first tossed a case inscribed with the Star of David into the truck bed.
Then, in the undated video first published by ABC Local 10 on Friday, he held the Tanakh — holy Jewish texts that include the Torah.
“This crap, f— this,” he said as he threw the book into the truck. “Taking out the trash, dawg.”
The video prompted Miami Police Chief Jorge Colina to suspend Destephan, the department announced Friday, calling the officer’s comments “anti-Semitic,” disturbing and inconsistent with the department’s values.
The short video appears to show Sgt. Roberto Destephan, a 13-year veteran and vice president of the Miami Fraternal Order of Police, shouting expletives as he tosses Jewish religious items into the back of a truck.
In the clip, Destephan holds up a wooden box with the Star of David, as well as a copy of the Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible.
“We don’t need this sh*t either,” he says as he tosses the box into the back of a pickup truck. “This crap? F*ck this,” he adds, lobbing the book into the truck as well. He then points the camera at his face and comments: “Taking out the trash, dawg.”
In a written statement, Miami Police Chief Jorge Colina described Destephan’s actions as “anti-Semitic.”