The screenshot taken from the website of The New York Times on March 17, 2022 shows the photo and core contents of its report titled "Officers Said They Hoped Black Lives Matter Protesters Would Die, Suit Says." (Xinhua)
The lawsuit accuses the police department of harassment, discrimination and retaliation, and seeks economic and compensatory damages, among other actions.
NEW YORK, March 17 (Xinhua) -- A lawsuit of racial prejudice among a local police squad in the United States has drawn mixed reactions and reflected the predicament of U.S. law enforcement force, according to The New York Times on Wednesday.
In a series of text messages, a white supervisor and other police officers in Montgomery County, Maryland, talked about preparing for a "race war," and expressed hope that Black Lives Matter protesters would be killed, said a federal lawsuit filed this week by a Black colleague.
The officer, Mark Miles of the Maryland-National Capital Park Police, said in the lawsuit that his supervisor and other officers repeatedly made racist, hateful and offensive comments on a group text chain that was used to discuss work assignments and other business.
According to the lawsuit, the unit's supervisor, Sergeant Stephanie Harvey, questioned whether Officer Miles, who is mixed race and identifies as Black, would be "on our side" in a "race war."
Photo taken on Sept. 20, 2018 shows a police officer standing guard near the shooting scene in Harford County, Maryland, the United States. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)
The lawsuit, which was filed on Monday in U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, accused the department of harassment, discrimination and retaliation. It seeks economic and compensatory damages, the termination of Sergeant Harvey's employment and the appointment of an independent monitor to ensure fairness in the Park Police, among other actions.
The lawsuit also said that while Sergeant Harvey may have been suspended in March 2021, she and other officers who engaged in "racist vitriol" are still employed by the department and several of those who made racist comments have been promoted to supervisory roles.
Officer Miles, however, was ostracized by the department after he complained about the harassment to a captain, to a lieutenant in Internal Affairs and to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the lawsuit stated.
In a statement, the Maryland-National Capital Park Police said that "in accordance with the Maryland Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights, several officers were suspended and referred to the disciplinary process for termination."
However, it insisted that "while we cannot disclose the details of individual personnel actions or pending disciplinary proceedings, the suggestion that Park Police management ignored allegations of misconduct by this group of officers is simply incorrect, and we will make the results of the trial board process public at the appropriate time." ■
