KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Kansas City, Mo., police patrolman claims he was demoted because his skin is white.
Patrolman Chad Rives filed a lawsuit on Dec. 5 and claims he was demoted out of the homicide unit where he was detective. The lawsuit lists three police department managers who are African-American.They include Captain Floyd Mitchell, Deputy Chief Kevin Masters and Deputy Chief Randall Hundley, who was recently promoted by Chief Darrel Forte.
The lawsuit claims a “Gang of 8” was formed to protect and promote black officers. The lawsuit also goes into detail about Rives’ employment record, stating that as a homicide detective, Rives achieved a high homicide solve rate, didn’t have any disciplinary action against him and received positive evaluations. Rives and the three officers named in the lawsuit all worked in the same unit at one time and all three signed Rives’ demotion.
The Fraternal Order of Police had no comment and the president of the Police Board of Commissioners couldn’t comment either. The next court date is in April.
The suit claims the discrimination has caused him loss of sleep, anxiety and prevented him from competing on a level playing field with African-American employees.
