By David Reid, The Republican (Massachussetts)
HOLYOKE, Mass. - A state administrative magistrate has dismissed multiple racial discrimination and retaliation complaints filed in 1996 and 1997 by former city police patrolman Nelson A. Vasquez Sr. against two superior officers and the city.
In her Dec. 16 opinion, Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination Hearing Commissioner Cynthia A. Tucker, who presided over a six-day trial in March 2003, concluded that Vasquez’s case was without merit.
“The complainant has failed to persuade me that he was discriminated against on the basis of his national origin or subjected to unlawful retaliation,” Tucker said in a 34-page decision written last week.
Vasquez, a 13-year member of the police department until his resignation in 2001, had charged Lt. Donald J. Whelihan and former chief Stephen F. Donoghue with treating him unfairly because he is of Puerto Rican ancestry.
Lawyer Lisa Brodeur-McGan, who represented the city, said yesterday the case was important because the city successfully defended claims of widespread racial discrimination in the police department.
“We proved by this case that there was not,” said Brodeur-McGan.
Vasquez lawyer Alan M. Katz could not be reached yesterday.
In his complaint, Vasquez said that, based on race, he was unfairly assigned foot patrols and prisoner monitoring, denied overtime and time off, called derogatory names and spat on by Whelihan, and issued disciplines and denied proper appeals by Donoghue.
Tucker stated she believed the testimony from the defendants and from other officers that Vasquez received the same treatment as other officers, and that race played no part in departmental assignments.
In her report, Tucker repeatedly said she found city witnesses credible and did not believe Vasquez, whom she said failed to present adequate evidence on his behalf.
Tucker’s summary of the case cited testimony from numerous police officers, many of them Hispanic, who denied hearing Whelihan make discriminatory statements about Hispanics or receiving unfair treatment, as Vasquez had alleged.
Defense witnesses also testified that Vasquez mistreated prisoners, alienated fellow officers with his improper conduct, fell asleep in his cruiser on at least one occasion, failed to file a report after an unauthorized absence and ignored other departmental rules.
Tucker’s decision also cited Vasquez’s 2001 conviction in Hampden Superior Court of assault and battery after his 2000 arrest for beating his 10-year-old son with a belt buckle.