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Pa. chief resigns over slur before new police department opens

Thomas Burke was to start the job in January

Associated Press

FARRELL, Pa. — The chief of a new western Pennsylvania police department has resigned his job over a racial slur he used in a fundraising email unrelated to his work.

Farrell Mayor Olive McKeithan tells The (Sharon) Herald that she asked Thomas Burke to resign. The mayor says the conversation occurred Wednesday, but she told the newspaper about it on Friday.

The Associated Press could not immediately locate a phone number for Burke on Saturday.

Burke, who is white, was sworn in as the city’s new police chief on Nov. 17. He was to start the job in January.

The email was sent in April to about 40 people as Burke tried to raise money for a book drive. He used a slur when saying black people in nearby Sharon “gotta learn how to read.”

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press

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