FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - The Broward NAACP demanded the firing of a Fort Lauderdale Police officer accused of instigating a fight, using racial slurs, and drinking and driving in a marked police cruiser.
Representatives from the Broward County NAACP addressed reporters about the matter in a news conference held Friday.
“So we have come this morning to demand accountability and justice from the City of Fort Lauderdale regarding their police officer,” said Marsha Ellison, president of the Broward County NAACP.
John Giga is a 16-year veteran with FLPD.
The NAACP said that Giga has a long history of bad behavior and are asking why his firing is being put on hold.
“It’s a very thorough investigation, and what I can’t seem to understand is how an individual like John Giga is still wearing the uniform of the Fort Lauderdale Police Department when its been investigated, and this didn’t just happen last week or the week before; this was Thanksgiving last year,” said retired Broward Circuit Judge Ilona Holmes. “For a man that’s been suspended four times, reprimanded six times, I think his time has come. It is time for Fort Lauderdale to cut their losses.”
Officer-worn body camera video captured Giga injured and bloodied following a fight in a Fort Lauderdale parking lot in the early morning hours of Nov. 24.
When responding officers arrived at the scene, they did not know that he was a colleague.
According to an internal affairs report, the incident happened just after 11 p.m., after Giga had finished his shift, parked his marked SUV near Hunters Beach Bar in Fort Lauderdale and entered the bar.
“And after his shift, takes off his police uniform, his police shirt, his police gun belt, and leaves in his marked police unit and then goes to the bar,” said Broward County Public Defender Gordon Weekes. “He starts hammering back drinks, drink after drink after drink.”
Surveillance cameras inside the bar captured Giga drinking what appeared to be alcohol several times, socializing and hugging an employee.
The report stated that Giga was also texting a female friend and that the texts were scandalous.
“Continues his texting and is rebuffed by this young lady, who is not interested and does not respond,” Weekes said. “He gets agitated, he gets upset, and he says that, ‘I’m going to show up and ‘f’ things up.'”
Surveillance video later that night showed Giga arriving at Capones near downtown Fort Lauderdale, where the female friend with whom he exchanged texts works.
Once inside Capones, video showed Giga inside while the woman was seen running away.
“This young lady hears at the door and crouches down to hide and secret herself so she is not seen in that bar, because she doesn’t want to have anything to do with him that night,” Weekes said. “She then goes into the freezer and hides herself in the freezer.”
Giga then left the bar and spotted men in their cars who were African American. One of the men told officers that Giga approached them angrily, punched one car and yelled.
According to the report, a witness claimed Giga constantly used the N-word.
“He was talking about (the) driver … like calling them (N-word), (N-word), (N-word), (N-word), all that, you know, for no reason. I was like, ‘Hey man, why are you beating on his window like that, man? We’re just trying to have a good time. It’s Thanksgiving, man,'” the witness told police.
Weekes said Giga’s body language seen on the surveillance video showed him angry.
“You can see from his body language that he was clearly agitated, and he’s using the N-word very profusely,” said Weekes.
The men then got out of their car, and there was a confrontation between them and Giga that escalated into fight.
During an interview with detectives about the use of the racial slur, Giga said, “That’s not even in my vocabulary. I don’t – I don’t use that. My girlfriend’s Black. There’s no reason that I would ever use that kind of language.”
At the end of the report, the chief gave a one-word recommendation: “termination.”
But the NAACP said that never happened.
“I don’t understand how, quite frankly, this man is still in the uniform,” said Ellison.
A citizens review board recommended on June 10 that Giga should have been fired.
Since that vote, the police union has stepped in and is asking the Fort Lauderdale city manager and the commission to hold a vote on Giga’s future job prospects.
The NAACP is also asking Fort Lauderdale Police to investigate whether the officers who responded that night turned off their body cameras as a “professional courtesy” as they spoke to Giga.
Copyright 2025 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.