A Nashville police officer was accused of growing and using hallucinogenic mushrooms in January, spurring an internal investigation that uncovered an allegation that he used the N-word in text message while he was on the job.

The officer, Matthew Bajt, quit on June 19, a day after being notified of the ongoing investigation, which included detectives from the department's narcotics division and the Office of Professional Accountability.

A police spokesman said department officials had worked to have Bajt's police certification revoked.

According to department records, an anonymous tipster called the Crime Stoppers hotline in January and said Bajt was growing and using the mushrooms.

Narcotics detectives investigated, and eventually interviewed a woman who was romantically linked to Bajt.

The woman, who said she was not the anonymous tipster, told police about Bajt's drug use and turned over messages that appeared to be from the officer, according to records. The messages included pictures of Bajt in uniform and also pictures of mushrooms "at various stages of growth," the records stated.

The department's internal investigator said he "observed a video of Officer Bajt narrating how he grows mushrooms and another video of both him and (the woman) appearing to be under the influence of an intoxicant."

In one message from Bajt's phone, dated Oct. 15, 2017, the officer appears to use the N-word to describe black people, who he also compared to "animals," according to records. That portion of Bajt's records was first shared on social media by online news outlet Scoop Nashville.

"Its (sic) like a zoo here wait those animals at the zoo are behaved," Bajt allegedly wrote, according to the records.

The investigator found Bajt was working when the message was sent.

When Bajt was called in for an interview with investigators in June, he asked to have representation. A day later, he said he would resign from the department — he was never interviewed.

"The racial slur (Bajt) is alleged to have used is absolutely reprehensible and will unequivocally not be tolerated in the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department," police spokesman Don Aaron said Friday night in an interview.

Aaron noted that police officials had reached out to the panel that certifies Tennessee officers in order to get Bajt decertified. The move would block him from working for any other police departments.

Bajt graduated from the police training academy in July 2012. He was most recently assigned to the Central Precinct in downtown Nashville.

The Special Investigations Division launched criminal investigation into the mushroom allegations, Aaron said, but "a lack of physical evidence prevented any prosecution."

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Reach Adam Tamburin at 615-726-5986 and atamburin@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter @tamburintweets.