While at the Drug Enforcement Administrations Training Academy, Brown said he was once pepper-sprayed three times in a single training exercise while other trainees were sprayed once.
When both responded, the white instructor clarified, āI meant the monkey.āThat behavior, as alleged in an internal complaint, didnāt stop there.
The instructor also was accused of going on the loudspeaker in the tower of the outdoor firing range to taunt black trainees by making āmonkey noises.āāWe were like, āItās 2019.
That shouldnāt even be a thing that weāre dealing with,āā said Derek Moise, who did not hear the noises himself but recalled the discomfort they caused his fellow Black trainees who did.
The recruits who originally accused Mortenson are still employed by the DEA and not permitted to speak publicly about the incidents.