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Jury awards $800,000 in white officer’s suit against Cleveland
CLEVELAND — A federal jury has awarded $800,000 to a white police officer, finding that the city racially discriminated against him by assigning him to undesirable duty after he shot and wounded a black boy.
Patrolman Edward Lentz Jr. argued his treatment was harsher than that of black officers who shot black people, and that he was made a scapegoat to appease activists who protested a number of police shootings involving black suspects.
In the verdict reached last week, the U.S. District Court jurors, all of whom were white, found the discrimination was deliberate, intentional and part of an official “policy or custom.” They also agreed with Lentz’s claim that the city retaliated when Lentz complained about his treatment by filing disciplinary charges with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
The city plans to appeal, Mayor Frank Jackson said in a statement, adding that he “rejects the notion that any of the city’s investigation policies discriminate against anyone for any reason.”
Lentz wounded 12-year-old Lorenzo Locklear on Dec. 6, 2001, while the officer was providing security outside the home of then-Mayor Jane Campbell. Locklear sped around the corner in a station wagon.
There’s dispute over how Lentz got onto the vehicle’s roof — the officer said he was being dragged and had to climb up, and a witness claimed he jumped. When Locklear didn’t follow his order to stop, Lentz fired 14 shots through the roof, striking the boy in the arm, hip and ankle.
During the investigation, Lentz was assigned for nearly two years to work in the police gymnasium.
“This verdict has given him back his honor and reputation,” said Lentz’s attorney, Edward Kramer.
A grand jury in 2003 rejected a felonious assault charge against Lentz, a judge later dismissed a falsification charge and the city dismissed departmental charges. Locklear was found delinquent in juvenile court in 2003 for driving the stolen car and possessing marijuana. He also won a settlement in a lawsuit against the city; the amount was not disclosed.
Lentz’ lawsuit is similar to one filed last August by two detectives involved in the fatal 2005 shooting of 15-year-old Brandon McCloud, who was black. Detectives Philip Habeeb and John Kraynik, who are white, seek $2 million.
Target Corp. settles discrimination case with federal monitors
PHILADELPHIA — Target Corp. will pay $775,000 to 14 black workers to settle discrimination complaints filed by federal civil rights monitors.
The Minneapolis-based retail giant must also train managers and supervisors at its store in Springfield, Pa., about the company’s equal employment opportunity policies, according to the settlement announced last week by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).
The commission accused Target of violating federal civil rights regulations by “creating and condoning a racially hostile work environment” for a group of black workers at the suburban Philadelphia store beginning in July 2003, according to an agency press release.
The agency said Michael Hill, then training to become a manager, and 13 other workers were “subjected to racial harassment by a white store manager,” and Hill resigned in Sept. 2004 due to “negative health effects of the discrimination” and a lack of response to his internal complaints.
Only one of the 14 workers still works for Target, commission attorney Terrence Cook said.
Target, in a statement last Friday, said that allegations in Springfield were investigated promptly, but the company could not substantiate the claims.
“While Target vigorously continues to deny the EEOC’s allegations, the settlement was reached to resolve issues raised by the complaint without the time and expense of further contested litigation,” the company said.
Target said its Springfield store “has a diverse management team in place,” and vowed to reinforce policies and procedures “to further prevent and report this kind of activity.”
Cornell student sentenced for hate crime stabbing
ITHACA, N.Y. — A white Cornell University student has been sentenced to 1 1/3 to four years in state prison for the hate crime stabbing last February of a black student who was visiting the Ivy League campus from another college.
In court last Monday, Nathan Poffenbarger apologized to his victim, Charles Holiday, a 23-year-old Brooklyn resident who was a senior at Union College in Schenectady at the time of the attack.
“Let me assure you, your injury is not due to who you are, but who I had become due to my emotional state,” Poffenbarger said in a letter read by his defense attorney, Joseph Joch. “I’m anything but a racist, but I acted like one that night.”
Poffenbarger, 21, of Woodsboro, Md., pleaded guilty in December to felony assault as a hate crime and tampering with evidence.
In arguing successfully for the maximum possible sentence, Tompkins County District Attorney Gwen Wilkinson noted the severity of the charges and Holiday’s ongoing nerve damage and psychological trauma.
Police said Holiday was with a group of friends on the Cornell campus when they encountered Poffenbarger, who began taunting them with racial slurs before stabbing Holiday. Poffenbarger was reported to have been drinking and was thrown out of a fraternity party before the stabbing. He later tried to dispose of the weapon, police said.
Holiday was hospitalized for two days after the stabbing.
(Associated Press)
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