San Antonio police officer fired on allegations he called Black, women colleagues ‘diversity hires’

The San Antonio Police Department has indefinitely suspended one of its officers, Emilio J. De La Rosa, over allegations he made inappropriate workplace comments about women and Blacks on the force and engaged in “conduct prejudicial to good order,” disciplinary records show.

SAPD records accuse De Le Rosa of unleashing string of potentially offensive remarks in front of coworkers, including a statement one took as sexual harassment and comments disparaging Black and women officers on his team as “diversity hires.”

De La Rosa’s suspension — tantamount to a firing — became effective June 24, signed paperwork shows.

While inside the City Detention Center’s DWI processing room on Feb. 21, De La Rosa told an officer while she knelt to find a laptop charging cable that she no longer needed to be on her knees since she’d already been chosen for a job with the department’s DWI unit, according to allegations in his disciplinary report.

“Considering I only had one month on the DWI unit, I took that as a sexually harassing comment about my selection to the unit,” the woman officer told investigators in a sworn statement excerpted in the document. “I felt very embarrassed and ashamed to be around other probationary officers and to have been in a disadvantaged position when he made the comment.”

An SAPD colleague also heard De La Rosa discussing recent additions to the department’s DWI team in which he complained there would be “too many” women and Blacks in the unit, disciplinary paperwork also states. Further, De La Rosa referred to three specific members of the unit as “diversity hires,” the person reportedly told SAPD investigators.

Disciplinary records also accuse De La Rosa of telling an officer training under him that a Sergeant who raised concerns about a DWI case “does not know what he is talking about,” a statement that department officials said “failed to exhibit respect for his superior officer.”

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This article appears in Jul 23 – Aug 6, 2025.