The Trenton Times published the following article on February 15, 2013. To read the full article, click here.
Trenton council approves $375,000 settlement in city dispatcher discrimination case
By Erin Duffy/The Times of Trenton
on February 15, 2013 at 8:55 AMTRENTON — City council last week approved a $375,000 settlement with a group of police dispatchers who sued the city and former police director Irving Bradley Jr. in 2008 alleging they faced discrimination by Bradley and a dispatch supervisor because they were white.
The settlement, according to city documents, comes one month after a civil trial was expected to start and contains no admission of guilt or liability.
The original suit was filed in 2008 by eight dispatchers and dispatch supervisors who claimed they were punished with trumped-up disciplinary charges and overlooked for promotions by Bradley and acting dispatch supervisor Talea Woods because of their race. They sought unspecified damages from the city for “mental anguish, embarrassment, stress, anxiety, humiliation and pain and suffering.”
One employee eventually dropped out of the suit. Five of the seven plaintiffs still work in the police radio room.
The suit accused Bradley of pushing a “racialist agenda” and trying to keep white employees from advancing in the radio room. At one meeting, dispatchers said Bradley gave them a “black power salute” and informed supervisors that black and Hispanic men “have been held down for too long. I’ll change that.”
Last month, as the trial was expected to begin, acting city law director Walter Denson said there was no proof the dispatchers were targeted or discriminated against.
“When we look at the evidence we don’t see there being any racial discrimination or reverse discrimination perpetrated against the plaintiffs,” he said. “But the thing with trials and juries is, it’s all about perception.”
Bradley’s term as police director ended in 2010 when Mayor Tony Mack took office and appointed his own string of police directors. Bradley is currently the head of school security in Trenton schools for U.S. Security Associates, a private company that hires security guards for the district.
Bradley, Woods and David Zatuchni, the lawyer representing the seven dispatchers could not be reached for comment yesterday. Denson and new city attorney Carly Amana did not return calls seeking comment.Councilman George Muschal said it was in the best interest for the city to settle, but lamented the growing number of legal costs being born by city taxpayers.
“I believe the city did the right thing in settling it,” he said. “It was an eyesore being conducted in that radio room. Hopefully we can move on there and they have someone in there who can control a situation that was totally out of control.”
But he also questioned why taxpayers should be responsible for paying out for such lawsuits. “Why should the taxpayers pay all this money for all these clowns?” Muschal said, referring to Bradley and Woods “They should be held accountable, the people who did it.”
Contact Erin Duffy at (609) 989-5723 or eduffy@njtimes.com