The Associated Press
DENVER (AP) - A police officer who said he was forced to work at a festival because he is black will receive a $9,000 settlement from the city.
Henry Jones, a 13-year member of the police department, filed a complaint with the U.S. Justice Department last summer, claiming he was forced to work at the annual Juneteenth festival because the department could not get enough volunteers.
“It was suggested fairly clearly that the city wanted more black officers to work the event,” said Doug Jewell, Jones’ attorney. “For several reasons, he didn’t want the assignment, but he was made to do it.”
Assistant City Attorney Rob Nespor said the city did not admit liability in the settlement.
The police union supported the complaint. Union president Dan Neil said that this year, the department did not assign any officer who did not want to work the festival.
Juneteenth marks June 19, 1865, the day slaves in Texas learned they had been freed 2 1/2 years earlier by the Emancipation Proclamation.