Black Cop Wins $1.2M for LAPD Harassment
Black Cop Wins $1.2M for LAPD Harassment
LOS ANGELES (CN) - A jury awarded $1.2 million in damages to a black Los Angeles police officer who claimed that white colleagues racially harassed him with jokes about watermelons and Soul Glow.
Earl Wright sued the city of Los Angeles and is police department in Superior Court last year, claiming his fellow officers and bosses retaliated against him after he complained of harassment by his superior Sgt. Peter Foster and other white officers.
Wright claimed in his complaint that the incidents at the central division station where he worked left him "very upset, embarrassed and humiliated."
Greg Smith, the Beverly Hills attorney who represented Wright, told Courthouse News that Wright was pleased the jury had ordered the city to compensate Wright.
"It would have been very bad for him if he'd received a defense verdict," Smith said in an interview, noting that Sgt. Foster was the only officer who had lost his job.
"The command staff that did nothing to remedy the situation should be punished," Smith added. "But that's never going to happen. That's the culture of the Los Angeles Police Department."
http://www.courthousenews.com/2013/03/28/56166.htm
