A former Placer County sheriff's deputy was investigated for sending racially derogatory text messages from his work phone in 2014; those messages were outlined in a letter from the Placer County District Attorney's Office.
The family of Howard Scott, who was arrested by that deputy, emailed the letter to media outlets Thursday. In an interview with News10, Scott described former Placer County Deputy Scott Dow as a racist.
"[Dow is] behind everybody's back being a racist, and to your face he's, 'it's all good,'" Scott said.
In the letter, dated July 15, 2014, the D.A.'s office said it learned Dow was texting derogatory comments on his department-issued cell phone. The letter said a text message sent on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day included a picture of a dead black man with a caption written by Dow, "happy dead n----- day." In other text messages, Dow used the "N word" to describe black people. A deputy district attorney wrote those words were used in conjunction with other pictures of an "African-American man who had been killed" and an image of a man in a "KKK outfit." In other texts, Dow refers to homosexual men as "f------."
Dow is no longer employed by the Placer County Sheriff's Department. The sheriff's department would not say if Dow was disciplined for the text messages or if others in the department were involved.
As a K9 handler and department employee for more than a decade, Dow had been involved in some of the county's highest profile arrests and earned the department's "Distinguished Officer Award" in 2013.
Despite the accolades, Scott said the decorated deputy is a racist.
"He's not just being a racist against me only," Scott said. "It's against everybody he stated something against in that letter -- whether it's one black or one Mexican, it's against all of us."
Scott admits he has a blemished past. He's been in and out of the Placer County Jail several times since he became an adult. He was even implicated, and later acquitted, in a murder investigation, and he has served time at Pelican Bay and Corcoran state prisons.
The sheriff's department would not say much about the investigation into Dow's text messages, but spokesperson Lt. John Poretti said the racist remarks have affected the entire department.
"Several hundred people here doing a great job," Poretti said. "And then, when something like this comes out, it kind of makes us all look bad, and you've got a lot of people who are really trying hard to do good work."
Wherever Dow is today, Scott said he hopes he's not in uniform.
"Why should [Dow] be allowed to carry a gun when you know he has these aggressive tendencies toward African Americans, Mexicans and homosexuals?" Scott said.
A felony charge against Scott was dropped after his lawyer learned about Dow's racist text messages. The district attorney's office did not respond to an email and phone calls asking whether it dismissed other cases where Dow was the arresting officer or a key witness for prosecutors.
News10 attempted to reach Dow by phone Thursday. A woman identifying herself as Dow's wife said he was not available. She said the accusations against her husband are false, but would not go into any detail.
