Detroit police lieutenant suspended following an investigation into an altercation with a protester during Biden’s visit

A Detroit police lieutenant has been suspended after new findings emerged in an investigation related to comments he made to protesters during President Joe Biden’s visit to Huntington Place on Sunday.

Detroit Police Chief James White said Monday that Lt. Brandon Cole was placed on administrative leave following the verbal altercation during Biden’s visit and the protest outside the venue. On Wednesday, White said, new evidence led him to suspend Cole from duty. A request to withhold his pay will be submitted to the Board of Police Commissioners “immediately,” White said in a statement Wednesday. The chief said the suspension and reprimand were prompted by “additional facts that have emerged” after the weekend incident.

Cole came under scrutiny when a viral 19-second TikTok video showed him with four police officers at a protest outside Huntington Place during the NAACP Detroit Fight For Freedom Fund Dinner with Biden as the keynote speaker. The video, which has received more than 9 million views, shows Cole asking a woman protesting U.S. military aid to Israel, “Why don’t you just go back to Mexico?” The woman, Lexis Zeidan of Dearborn, responds in the video that she is of Palestinian, not Mexican, descent.

During a press conference Monday at Public Safety Headquarters, department officials showed the TikTok clip and extended footage from an officer’s body-worn camera. Additional footage provided more context to Cole and the protesters’ comments, but still raised concerns, White said.

The interaction developed into a verbal argument that initially appeared to be motivated by ethnic or nationalist bigotry. But police said, “The protester the lieutenant was engaged with was recently out of town but on vacation in Mexico, and the lieutenant was aware of this and his comment was in reference to her return on vacation,” said Commander. Michael McGinnis during the press conference.