Two more Black Seattle officers are suing the department for discrimination
Officers Corey Foy and Michael Griffin filed complaints alleging they were harassed by coworkers and arbitrarily singled out by supervisors due to their race.
Discrimination lawsuits against the Seattle Police Department are stacking up faster than the city can resolve them. Seattle settled a retaliation claim with a Black captain for nearly $1 million in early April. Now, two rank-and-file officers have filed civil suits alleging pervasive anti-Black racism, joining a wave of ongoing race and gender discrimination claims.
In separate lawsuits filed on the same day earlier this month, officers Corey Foy and Michael Griffin claim that they were harassed, humiliated, retaliated against, and denied opportunities to earn more income because of their race. Foy and Griffin listed multiple examples of alleged mistreatment by their coworkers and supervisors.
Foy describes an incident in which Officer Andrew Marks said he looked like a “fucking thug” because he showed up in workout clothes. Marks doubled down on his comments after Foy changed into uniform. The Office of Police Accountability investigated the incident and recommended suspension for unprofessionalism. However, it stopped short of sustaining bias allegations while acknowledging “it is inordinately unlikely that [Marks] would have called a similarly dressed white officer a ‘thug.’”
Later, Officer Cody Alidon told Foy that he looked “shady” walking through the South Precinct parking lot in a hoodie. When Foy asked him if it’s “because I’m Black,” Alidon laughed and drove off. This incident is the subject of an ongoing Equal Employment Opportunity complaint.
Officer from beating video accused of racism by another cop
The costar of a viral video of police officers beating a man in South Seattle faces allegations of racism from a fellow cop. An unnamed officer alleged that Ofc. Cody Alidon was racist to him in the precinct parking lot last year, according to police disciplinary records.
According to the lawsuit, white officers superimposed Griffin’s picture onto a photo of a Black suspect and hung it up next to Sergeant John Marion’s desk for weeks. They crossed out the suspect’s name and wrote Griffin’s on it. Griffin was written up and given remedial training for failing to take an adequate report from a crime victim who repeatedly used the n-word in front of him.
Foy and Griffin alleged that their superiors reprimanded them for behaviors that non-Black officers got a pass for, such as showing up five minutes late, not wearing their full uniform in roll call, or sleeping in the TV room. Both claimed that they were given a lower priority for overtime. Griffin said that he was passed over for the hostage negotiation team and denied the opportunity to be a field training officer, despite having more than 30 years of experience.
Multiple current and former officers are suing the department, including Denise “Cookie” Bouldin, a Black detective who runs a popular chess program, and John O’Neil, a Black lieutenant, who claims he was the subject of a hostile work environment due to several unsubstantiated complaints.
Lieutenant's lawsuit is the latest salvo in a years-long feud
Last week, Seattle Police Lieutenant John O’Neil filed a lawsuit claiming that he’s experienced frivolous complaints, racism, harassment, and punitive transfers. While the courts will decide whether these claims add up to a hostile workplace in the strict legal sense, it’s clear he’s faced a lot of hostility on the job.
The officers who filed those complaints—Lt. Lauren Truscott, Judinna Gulpan, Kame Spencer, and Valerie Carson—are also suing, alleging that erstwhile Chief Adrian Diaz and O’Neil fostered a culture of sexual harassment and retaliation. Diaz himself has filed a wrongful termination lawsuit seeking $10 million. Former police guild vice-president Daniel Auderer, fired for joking about Jaahnavi Kandula’s death, wants $20 million.
The next few years will be busy for Seattle’s city attorney.