The internal
investigation concluded that the Coatesville police officers accused in a sex
scandal should be fired.
Instead, a lawsuit
claims, the officers, all white, were promoted and went on to help foster a
"hostile environment" for the handful of African Americans on the
Chester County city's police force.
One example of that
environment, the suit alleges: a Confederate flag decal that a white sergeant
has displayed on his auto license plate "with the knowledge of the police
department."
The claims are
part of a civil rights suit filed June 26 in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia
by Cpl. Larry Cooper, who identified himself as the highest-ranking black
officer in Coatesville's police department.
The suit also says
the department practices "intentional discrimination" that includes
"packing the officer ranks with white police officers." Coatesville
officials did not return calls Monday seeking comment on the suit.
Cooper, who said
he had received numerous awards, alleged that he was repeatedly passed over for
promotion while officers accused in the sex scandal - part of a self-described
"Dirty Half-Dozen" - were elevated to leadership positions.
Minority officers
are subjected to "ridiculing" and capricious standards, the suit
says. It said that conversations among black officers are called
"brothers' conventions" and that blacks are not the only targets - in
Internet postings, white officers have referred to Mexicans as
"dirty" and "presumed to be illegal aliens who are only good for
yard work," the suit alleges.
Race relations in
Coatesville, the site of a 1911 lynching of a black man accused of killing a
white company's police officer, have a troubled history.
Cooper's is the
second bias suit against the police department in the last year. In September,
two African American and two Latino officers filed a discrimination complaint,
which is pending, said their attorney, Gregg L. Zeff. The four remain on the
force.
Coatesville's
population is 46 percent black; Cooper's suit said only five of the city's 32
police officers were black.
The four officers
allegedly involved in the sex scandal who are still on the force now outrank
him, Cooper said.
About five years
ago, the Police Department investigated charges that a woman had "unwanted
sexual contact" with two officers. Three officers allegedly had sex with
her while on duty.
The suit said that
the investigating officer recommended that all five be fired, but that Police
Chief Julius M. Canale II, appointed in 2009, "overlooked the alleged
misconduct." The five, along with a relative of one of the accused
officers, began calling themselves "the Dirty Half-Dozen," Cooper
claimed, "to brag about the severity of the issue and lack of
punishment."
In addition to
seeking undetermined damages, the suit asks the court to appoint a "civil
rights monitor" for the department and to bar "any acts of
retaliation."