CINCINNATI — The man who was removed from the Citizen's Complaint Authority (CCA) and later resigned from the Great Parks board over his use of a racial slur during a CCA board meeting wrote an apology letter to city officials.
WCPO obtained that letter written by Bill Burwinkel through a public records request. The letter is dated June 30, days after Burwinkel was removed from the CCA.
"I want to extend my heartfelt apology for the remarks I made during a recent Citizens Complaint Authority meeting," reads the letter, which was sent to Mayor Aftab Pureval and Cincinnati city council. "I recognize that my words were inappropriate and did not reflect the level of professionalism or respect expected from someone in public service. I take full responsibility for the impact of these comments."
During the meeting where Burwinkel said the slur, CCA board members and a CCA investigator discussed a complaint against two officers for excessive force. While the CCA exonerated the officers on those allegations, they did find that one officer used "improper procedure" when he cursed at a witness.
According to the CCA report, while officers were making an arrest, one told someone in the crowd, "he’s in the middle of being f——— arrested man, f—-.”
While intended to convey frustration, it still was unprofessional, inappropriate for him to say that," said CCA investigator Joseph Vesper during the meeting.
Burwinkel didn't agree. He began to list off numerous examples of the f-word being used by prominent figures.
"In 2022, Joe Biden said to the mayor of Fort Myers Beach, Florida, 'no one f—— with Biden'," Burwinkel said.
Other board members tried to get Burwinkel to stop, but Burwinkel said he "wasn't done."
Shortly after, Burwinkel referenced an apparent case of someone playing a song by the rap group N.W.A. near Cincinnati police.
"I've never heard of them," Burwinkel said. "I did some research, N.W.A. is a big rap group. N.W.A. stands for N——— With an Attitude. And a stander by was playing their number one song 'F—- Tha Police."
Burwinkel said he wanted to show that the language used by the officer wasn't a big deal.
"This whole disrespect thing is outdated, overblown and a moot point," Burwinkel said.
However, some people, like Iris Roley, feel Burwinkel's comments were inappropriate. She was at the meeting when the discussion occurred.
"Mr. Burwinkel used the F-bomb 17 times, then he dropped the N-word with the hard '-er,'" Roley said.
Following the meeting, Pureval said he met with Burwinkel, before removing him from the CCA, to discuss what was said, and determined Burwinkel's response "was unsatisfying."
"If a grown man needs an explanation for why using the n-word is inappropriate, he is uniquely unqualified for a public position," Pureval said in a statement.
In his apology to city officials, Burwinkel wrote that for more than four decades of serving Cincinnati, he has worked to promote fairness, dignity and unity.
He also wrote that he is working to learn from the experience.
"Please know that I take this matter seriously," Burwinkel wrote. "I am committed to learning from this moment and ensuring that my actions going forward reflect the values I've always strived to uphold."
Days after Burwinkel was removed from the CCA, he resigned from the Great Parks Board of Park Commissioners.
In a release, Great Parks said Hamilton County Probate Court Judge Ralph Winkler accepted his resignation, effective June 27.
