Town of Seattle can pay practically $1 million to a Black police captain to settle a lawsuit by which he alleged that town’s police chief demoted him for reporting racism and discrimination.
Eric Greening, a 30-year veteran with the Seattle Police Division, sued town and former Police Chief Adrian Diaz in March 2024. Greening alleged that Diaz retaliated towards him and decreased his rank after he reported race and gender discrimination inside the division whereas he served in a command place.
Diaz was fired final December by Mayor Bruce Harrell over an improper relationship along with his chief of workers.
In keeping with the grievance cited by KING5 and The Seattle Instances, Greening, who has been with the Seattle police power since 1994, joined the command workers as an assistant chief in 2017 the place he generally served as performing chief.
In 2021, he was tapped to guide the division’s Race and Social Justice Initiative Change Workforce and the Collaborative Policing Bureau.
His new management positions made him chargeable for reporting racism and gender bias inside the police company to Diaz and suggest workable options, in accordance with the swimsuit.
Greening raised a number of issues to Diaz after observing that the neighborhood outreach duties and work relating to variety, fairness, and inclusion had been usually assigned to girls and minority members of the division.
He famous that white commanders, civilian government administrators, and different assistant chiefs had been “being absolved of any accountability to attach with neighborhood members in a non-enforcement capability,” in accordance with the swimsuit.
He additionally alleged that Diaz excluded girls and BIPOC command personnel from decision-making processes, circumvented Black supervisors to make requests straight of their subordinates, and allowed white lieutenants to bypass Collaborative Policing Bureau management, which included Greening and different individuals of colour.
Greening mentioned these issues with Diaz at a January 2022 assembly and even gave him a duplicate of the Continuum on Changing into an Anti-Racist Multicultural Group. Diaz solely responded with one thing alongside the traces of “I can’t repair all of this,” in accordance with the grievance.
In early 2023, the police division started their seek for a brand new deputy chief and assistant chief. On the time, Diaz required all present assistant chiefs to reapply for his or her roles. Greening mentioned when he reapplied he was solely given a “perfunctory” interview earlier than being demoted to the rank of captain and positioned in command of the Power Assessment Unit, which got here with a $27,000 pay lower.
Greening mentioned Diaz abolished the Collaborative Policing Bureau after his demotion.
Town’s settlement with Greening awards him $638,000 and his attorneys $312,000. The settlement dictates that Greening should stay on paid depart till a required resignation date on Feb. 1, 2026. He’ll obtain a a retirement plaque and a letter thanking him for his service as soon as he resigns. The settlement just isn’t an admission of wrongdoing.
He’ll additionally obtain $73,000 in again wages of his wage as assistant chief and $250,000 in non-economic compensation. His retirement rating might be modified from police captain again to assistant chief.
After his resignation, town can pay him $65,000 in wage damages and an extra $250,000 in non-economic damages.
