All five black officers with the University of Washington Police Department have filed claims of racism against the department and are seeking $8 million in damages, alleging they were routinely insulted and demeaned by co-workers and supervisors.
Some officers said they were disciplined and denied promotions because of their race, KOMO-TV reported Tuesday.
The cops filed legal notices with the state on Monday, a requirement ahead of potential lawsuits, and did not name their allegedly racist colleagues.
The officers who filed the claims are Damien Taylor, Karinn Young, Gabriel Golden, Hamani Nowlen and Russell Ellis.
Russell Ellis, 49, said one of his superiors offered him a watermelon flavored drink
Young, pictured, said a banana was put in front of her locker with a note reading: 'Here's your lunch, you ******* monkey.'
Gabriel Golden, right, said racism has 'progressively got worse and worse'
The University of Washington has 60 days to settle the claims otherwise lawsuits can be filed
Students walk between classes on the University of Washington campus in Seattle
Taylor said a white supervisor referred to him as ''(his) own negro' on a call and later laughed at me when I confronted him about it.'
He also recounted hearing white officers saying George Floyd's 'black a** got what he deserved,' according to The New York Times.
In another allegation, a white supervisor reportedly hit Nowlen with a long, stick-like object and said: 'You people should be used to being hit with these.'
Young said a banana was put in front of her locker with a note reading: 'Here's your lunch, you ******* monkey.'
Golden reported hearing three white cops discussing a black officer who was placed on leave for an internal investigation and referring to them with a racial slur while saying that he 'better not show his face around here.'
The racism has 'progressively got worse and worse,' Golden told The New York Times.
'I went from loving my job, loving going to work every day, to starting to dread going into work because I didn't know what would happen next,' he said.
The officers said University of Washington Police Chief John Vinson, who is also black, was repeatedly criticized by white officers for hiring too many black people.
'White officers called Chief Vinson the n-word on several occasions,' Ellis said in the claim.
Vinson was reassigned to an administrative position at the university in 2019, according to The New York Times, after other leaders in the department accused him of creating 'an atmosphere of hostility, retaliation and unethical behavior.'
The officers said University of Washington Police Chief John Vinson, pictured, who is also black, was repeatedly criticized by white officers for hiring too many black people
Randall West, a white former deputy chief, returned to serve as the interim chief of the department which has not had a permanent chief since Vinson was reassigned, according to the outlet.
Ellis, 49, told The New York Times that one of his superiors offered him a watermelon flavored drink at the end of his late shift. He told the outlet he was angry and humiliated after a number of similar incidents.
He recounted the officer saying: 'I thought all you guys like watermelon and Popeye's chicken.'
Ellis, who joined the campus police force in 2007, said he 'can't sleep sometimes' and that the alleged racism in the department has affected him in ways he 'couldn't have imagined,' according to The New York Times.
He said that he had decided to become a cop during his junior year in high school in Sacramento when a police officer allegedly pointed a shotgun at his head while searching for someone else.
Ellis recounted one of his football coaches saying 'that to change law enforcement, sometimes you have to get involved.'
'We don't have very many black police officers. That was a big part of me thinking I need to be in law enforcement to change the environment of law enforcement,' he said.
According to The New York Times, the University of Washington has 60 days to settle the claims otherwise lawsuits can be filed.
University spokesperson Victor Balta said the college is stunned by the allegations and that the institution has no record of complaints being filed with the allegations.
'Any one of the incidents described here would prompt an immediate investigation and appropriate disciplinary action based on the investigation´s findings,' Balta said.
'We plan to initiate our own investigation into these allegations now that they have been brought to our attention.'
The University of Washington Police Department's website addresses racism, saying it 'must be addressed and eliminated, both in policing and from our community, so all of us can live without fear of discrimination.'
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