GRAND RAPIDS, MI - A Hastings police sergeant who says he was ridiculed at the police station after a genetic test showed he was part black settled his lawsuit against the city and top officials.
Brown said he was subjected to racial taunts after an Ancestry.com test showed that his race and national origin was 18 to 33 percent "sub-Saharan African.
Cleon Brown will receive $65,000 from the city's insurer.
He will be on paid administrative leave until Oct. 31, when he will resign, unless he obtains full-time employment before that, according to an agreement obtained by MLive and The Grand Rapids Press in a Freedom of Information request.
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At Christmas, someone hung a black Santa Clause figurine with "18%" written on its white beard. It was put in Brown's stocking.
He said other officers whispered, "Black Lives Matters," and pumped their fists, while the police chief called him, "Kunte," a character in Alex Haley's novel, "Roots: The Saga of an American Family."
The city said police Chief Jeff Pratt ordered racial comments to end. Brown started his own trouble by joking about results of the DNA test that he said showed he was "18-percent African American," the city said.
The city said "African American" isn't a possible test result.
It also said that Ancestry.com does not provide information on race, and that Brown is not part of a protected class.
"If plaintiff is allowed to be included as the member of a protected class because of the self-reported results of a commercial ancestry test, then the courts will be in the business of 'certifying bloodlines and races,'" Hastings' attorney, Michael Bogren wrote, citing previous case law.
She said officers turned their back on her client after he filed a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
"Based on the openly hostile, retaliatory behaviors displayed by the Defendants (the City Manager, Police Chief, the Deputy Chief, one of four sergeants, and one of seven Officers), and tacit approval of Defendant's conduct by many other Hastings officers, it is more likely than not, Plaintiff will not have adequate back up in the event of an emergency," Boylan wrote.
She said her client was known as a "good cop" who was "well-liked and respected" by other officers.
mlive.com
