White officer who was fired, then reinstated, says his firing was motivated by race.
An Austin police officer who was fired in 2006 — but laterreinstated — for beating up a mentally ill man at an East Austin busstop has sued the city and former Acting Police Chief Cathy Ellison,claiming that the initial discipline was unfairly harsh because he iswhite.
Although an arbitrator gave Gary Griffin his job back last year, thearbitrator also concluded that Griffin’s encounter with Joseph Cruz”did momentarily cross the line into the use of excessive force.” InJuly, the City of Austin paid Cruz’s family $55,000 to settle its civilrights lawsuit against Griffin.
Cruz, who was 24 at the time of the incident, suffered a broken nose and cuts and bruises.
Griffin’s suit, filed last week in U.S. District Court in Austin,seeks unspecified damages under federal, state and local civil rightslaws. In addition to the city and Ellison, City Manager Marc Ott andformer City Manager Toby Futrell are named as defendants, along withPolice Chief Art Acevedo, who took over in 2007.
Ellison, who is African American, fired Griffin. The suit claimsthat she subjected Griffin and other white officers to harsherpunishments than black officers because of their race.