The Chief of Police backs up the cop after he shoots a man to death, but not when he sends email with language that might be sexist/racist.

And now the people who loved the dead man and wanted the cop punished for the shooting are out to bring down the Chief of Police for caring more about offending people with speech than killing a man.

This is happening right here in Madison, where the local citizenry can be presumed to feel twinges about tinges of sexism and racism in anybody's speech, and you can imagine why the Chief of Police wanted to cut any attachment to the utterer of the purportedly toxic words. But by chance — or not by chance — the person to be detached was previously protected when the sensitive citizens cried out about the gun violence, the police brutality visited upon the young — now dead — man.

What specifics do you need to unravel this complicated problem in Madison politics? Why was the man shot? Details here, but the short answer is that — in the police version of the story — the man grabbed for the police officer's gun. What did the email say? From the first link, quoting Madison Police Chief Noble Wray's complaint to the Police and Fire Commission, the police officer (Steven Heimsness) sent a message to another officer that read: "Sometimes they forget they are not in Africa anymore. The social mores are not the same." (Heimsness said he was writing about someone who was from Africa.) And, referring to "a Latina woman on the force," he wrote — to male officers — "Ay caramba" and "Jesus Christo."

There were also some references to violence:

"I should have blasted that guy with the knife through my window the other day. At least I would have got the weekend off" (from September 8, 2012)...

The shooting that killed the man happened Nov. 9, 2012, take note.

... and "I'm ready to go on a shooting spree up in dispatch."