CHICAGO (AP) — Records show that a white Chicago police sergeant was never punished for using a racist slur about then-President Barack Obama more than three years ago.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Superintendent Eddie Johnson wanted Jack Axium to receive a nine-month suspension for the comment the sergeant admitted making while Obama was visiting Chicago in 2015. But the fight over the proposed suspension lasted so long that Axium retired before the police disciplinary board could take any action.

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That means Axium, who kept working and collecting his salary during his challenge of the suspension, can no longer be punished because he’s no longer a city employee.

The 52-year-old Axium is collecting a $72,526-a-year pension. A telephone call made to him for comment went unanswered.