Protesters demand Antioch cops in racist text scandal be fired

MARTINEZ, Calif. - Marching and chanting, more than 100 demonstrators took to the steps of the Contra Costa County courthouse in Martinez on Friday, demanding officers involved in a racist texting scandal be fired. 

Thirty-eight of the city’s officers are on administrative leave after years of racist and offensive text messages between some of them were recently exposed. 

"My son was a victim that they talked about in text messages about kicking his head like a field goal and kicking him unconscious and laughed about it," said Shirelle Cobbs, whose son, Trent Allen was the subject of some of the messages. 

The texts were uncovered amid a probe by the FBI and district attorney’s office into other possible crimes by officers in the department.  Revelations about the messages have caused the DA’s office to drop dozens of criminal cases the officers investigated. 

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Antioch police chief Steven Ford previously told KTVU that his department now has just 34 officers on patrol. 

Earlier this month, Attorney General said he launched his own civil rights investigation into the Antioch Police Department. 

"I’m very pleased that community members are actively engaged in this process and demanding change and demanding these officers be terminated," said Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe, who attended Friday’s rally.

Thorpe wrote a letter to the chief this week, calling for the quote "immediate termination" of the officers who wrote the racist texts. He also said he will be asking the department to decommission its armored vehicle.

"Having militarized equipment that were designed from the war in Iraq have no business being here," Thorpe said. 

The mayor said he will take up the issue of decommissioning the police department’s armored vehicle at next Tuesday’s city council meeting.

Evan Sernoffsky is an investigative reporter for KTVU. Email Evan at evan.sernoffsky@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @EvanSernoffsky