Brittany Lyte, Staff Writer
Updated 09:27 p.m., Friday, May 20, 2011
BRIDGEPORT -- Tim Quinn, the information officer for the city's Police Department, resigned Friday, about a week after he sent the news media a culturally insensitive email suggesting that generic cartoon mug shots of criminal defendants could be created with such names as "Miguel the Murderer" and "Tyrone the Thief."
Quinn, a longtime personality at WICC-AM who was appointed to the $69,000 position by Mayor Bill Finch in February, had been suspended without pay since May 12.
In the email that prompted his resignation, Quinn suggested that news organizations would be better served hiring a cartoonist rather than requesting so-called mug shots of arrested persons.
"Why wait for mug shots?" he wrote in the email. "I've got a better idea than calling me and seeing if we have pictures of what, invariably, turn out to be some of the ugliest critters on God's green earth. You guys should hire a cartoonist and he could create a whole set of characters then just pop one on the screen to fit the appropriate crime..."
Among the names he suggested were "Miguel the Murderer (kind of a skinny rat wearing a dirty T-shirt)" and "Tyrone the Thief (an ugly mixed breed mongrel with sunglasses)."
A short time after sending out the message, Quinn emailed an apology: "Guys ... I'd like to apologize for the earlier email about cartoon characters rather than mug shots. Poor sense of humor on my part, no intention to be demeaning of anyone, just my Thursday stupid pill. In any event, I sincerely apologize."
Adam Wood, Finch's chief of staff, said he supports Quinn's resignation as a means to resolve the incident.
"We understand it was not his intention to offend anyone," he said in a prepared statement, "but as Mayor Finch has said, offensive or culturally insensitive remarks cannot be tolerated from city employees."
Quinn did not return calls for comment.
Reach Brittany Lyte at blyte@ctpost.com or 203-330-6426. Follow her at twitter.com/blyte.
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