DETROIT (AP) -- A federal judge has ruled that although a city police officer was used as a scapegoat to quell public outcry over a rash of police shootings, he doesn’t have grounds to sue the city and its police commission.
Officer Eugene Brown had fatally shot three people and wounded a fourth in six years on the job, but had been cleared of wrongdoing by the Detroit Police Department and never prosecuted.
But after media reports uncovered Brown’s track record and the disturbing number of police shootings in general, then-Chief Benny Napoleon decided to reinvestigate Brown.
U.S. District Judge Gerald Rosen took the city to task in a 23-page opinion released Friday in which he dismissed the federal lawsuit, The Detroit Free Press reported in a Saturday story.
The suit alleged constitutional violations after Brown was passed over for promotion to sergeant despite an arbitrator’s decision saying he had qualified for the position.
Another lawsuit by Brown against the city alleging defamation, libel and slander is pending in Wayne County Circuit Court.
Rosen said that Brown’s claims are invalid because he is still employed and receiving sergeant’s pay, though the Board of Police Commissioners has refused to give him the title.
Brown’s lawyer, Jeffrey Sherbow, called the decision a victory of sorts.
“I appreciate Judge Rosen’s interpretation of the law,” he said. “Eventually ... Eugene Brown will be vindicated.”