BROOKLINE — At a meeting marked by protests, Brookline selectmen on Friday accepted a hearing officer’s recommendation to fire two black police officers for failing to come to work after complaining of racial discrimination on the force.
The fired officers — Prentice Pilot and Estifanos Zerai-Misgun — haven’t worked since December 2015 and were accused by a town attorney in March of insubordination by refusing an order to report to duty.
The officers each complained to Police Chief Daniel O’Leary beginning in 2014 that they faced racial epithets and harassment from fellow officers while on the job. They said they were ostracized after reporting the conduct to superiors and felt unsafe on the job.
Dozens of supporters gathered Friday morning in the Town Hall lobby, including a string quartet that invited the public to sing along as it played “We Shall Not Be Moved.’’ By the time the hearing began, the selectmen’s meeting room was packed with about 100 people, including the quartet, which displayed a “Black Lives Matter’’ sign.
Many audience members demanded a chance to address selectmen before the board voted, and angrily cried out when Chairman Neil Wishinsky declined.
The 5-to-0 vote by selectmen was barely audible over the shouts of audience members who asked for the chance to speak.
“Have you no dignity, have you no integrity? God have mercy on you all,’’ local businesswoman Leslie Epps told selectmen.
The selectmen’s vote capped more than a year of turmoil and soul-searching since Pilot and Zerai-Misgun went public with their allegations of ingrained racism within the Police Department.
The officers, who did not attend Friday’s hearing, have a suit pending against the town in Norfolk Superior Court.
In court filings, Zerai-Misgun said he was in an unmarked cruiser when a Brookline lieutenant told him, “Who would put a black man behind one of those?’’ Pilot accused a superior of telling him to get on a sidewalk and perform jumping jacks, using a racial slur.
Pilot and Zerai-Misgun said they didn’t return to work out of fear for their safety after reporting the racial discrimination, they argued in court papers.
Attorney James Lampke, who issued a recommendation that selectmen fire the officers after a March hearing, wrote that the officers’ reasoning was “not a good defense’’ for disobeying O’Leary’s order in February that they return to work.
Lampke wrote that the town needed to “move forward’’ and fill the two officers’ positions, and said that suspending them would not be sufficient.
Hillary Schwab, an attorney representing the officers, asked selectmen not to fire her clients and instead address their reports of discrimination.
“You are saying that Brookline is the kind of town that would rather terminate two African-American police officers, and make a virtually all white police force even less diverse, than face the deep-seated racism in the town and in the Police Department,’’ Schwab told selectmen before their vote.
In a statement after the hearing, selectmen said they had to end the stalemate with the two men.
“The officers’ absence from work for more than a year has resulted in a public safety staffing shortage in the Police Department, compelling the Town to take this unfortunate but necessary personnel action,’’ selectmen said.
Schwab said after the hearing that the officers had wanted to return to work before the selectmen voted to fire them.
The officers have been on unpaid leave since their accrued leave time was used up. In the case of Zerai-Misgun, he was on unpaid leave since about February 2016, while Pilot’s unpaid leave began in the summer, according to Schwab.
The dispute has roiled Brookline in a jarring break from the town’s reputation as a liberal enclave that embraces progressive causes such as offering sanctuary for immigrants and enacting strong environmental rules.
After the two officers’ reports of discrimination, the town commissioned reviews of its police force in 2016, including one reporting the majority of interviewees in the department are satisfied with its “climate of diversity.’’
That same report found that people of color reported nepotism within the department, referring to an “old boy Irish network’’ that prevented them from having equal access to employment opportunities.
The town said in a statement Friday that it has conducted ongoing antidiscrimination, antiretaliation, and implicit bias training in the Police Department — along with changes to the town’s antidiscrimination policy — to address the officers’ concerns and have them return to work.
In November, the Police Department said its latest class of 10 recruits was the most diverse class in its history, including four women, two Asian officers, and one black officer.
O’Leary said police training included sessions on cultural diversity and taking Brookline officers on guided tours of the Museum of African American History, along with sessions reviewing the history of policing and busing in Boston.
“People should know that — we didn’t walk away from things,’’ O’Leary said.
John Hilliard can be reached at john.hilliard@globe.com.
