'Offensive' Colin Kaepernick Costume Lands Police Officer In Hot Water

The police department for the University of Nevada, Reno, has issued an apology after one of its officers was called out for what many called an “offensive” Colin Kaepernick costume.

Kaepernick is the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback who began kneeling during the national anthem to protest racial inequality and police brutality. Kaepernick has not found a quarterback job this season after parting ways with the 49ers last year.

Kaepernick attended the University of Nevada in Reno.

The officer, Antonio Gutierrez, dressed as the quarterback and sported a hooked nose and “will stand for food” sign last week. Over the weekend, photos of the officer popped up and spread on social media, prompting an apology from the police department.

“For those who have seen the Halloween costume of one of our officers apparently mocking a citizen who has chosen to take advantage of his constitutional right to protest, I offer my sincere apologies,” said University of Nevada Reno Police Chief Adam Garcia in a statement. “Members of our profession are held to a higher standard and denigrating another — on or off duty — is insensitive for its lack of respect and lack understanding on how others may negatively view their actions and may be impacted.”

The officer will not face disciplinary action, according to Buzzfeed Monday.

“Behavior such as this magnifies unsafe feelings and lack of trust in police, especially when that individual is responsible for the safety of all members of the University, regardless of color, ethnicity, sexual orientation or religion,” continued Garcia in a statement. “At a time when officers should be heightened in their attentiveness to the perception by our community, this act seems extremely out of touch with those sentiments and reflects poorly on all of us.”

The incident comes a month after the department was accused of mishandling a complaint about threatening behavior by one of its officers. In September a black graduate student was pulled over and body camera footage catches the officer saying I'm just going to shoot him if this goes sideways because f--- that.”

The police officer in that case is on leave pending an investigation, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal.