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A Black police officer is alleging racial discrimination after his job offer for police chief was rescinded.
According to the Atlanta Black Star, Sherman Pruitt, the current Sauk-Suiattle Tribal Police Department chief, filed a lawsuit against the city of Edmond, Washington and its officials claiming they offered him the position of police chief in 2020, but later withdrew because of his race.
“Defendants used falsifications and racist dog whistles to frame the 6’2”, 285-pound Pruitt as a caricature: the angry, violent, and dishonest Black man,” the lawsuit states. “This inaccurate stereotyping, and the different job application standard than used for white Director-level candidates, led to Edmonds unlawfully withdrawing his job offer.”
During the hiring process, Pruitt was held to "higher standards" than other white applicants, according to the suit. City council member Vivian Olson, a defendant in the suit, allegedly launched a probe into his background that differed from other applicants the city’s HR department vetted.
The suit further claims that Olson described Pruitt as "THIS black police chief," "not gentlemanly," "too militant," and employed other racial stereotypes in email communications. According to the suit, Olson also falsely accused Pruitt of perjury and domestic violence.
The suit also accuses Edmonds Mayor Mike Nelson of fixating on Pruitt's race.
“Mayor Nelson fixated on racial issues, such as asking, ‘what are you going to do about the Blacks around here,’ ‘how are you going to handle the Blacks,” and raising concerns about whether the Edmonds community would accept Chief Pruitt because of his skin color,” the suit states.
Pruitt was also allegedly subjected to racist KKK imagery during his public interview, and the city failed to intervene.
According to the lawsuit, officials said they withdrew his offer for police chief due to Pruitt's failure to disclose that he applied for another position in a different Washington city. The suit claims the application in question never existed.
Olson has denied that race played a role in the rescission of Pruitt's offer.
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