North Huntingdon police officer sues, says he was turned down for promotion because of race

A federal lawsuit filed Monday by a Black police officer accuses the North Huntingdon police of retaliating against him because he complained of racist behavior in the department.

Albert P. Carson II is suing North Huntingdon Township and former township manager Jeffrey Silka for claims including failure to promote, retaliation, hostile workplace environment and disparate treatment.

Silka, who now serves as city administrator in Cumberland, Md., said he hasn’t seen the lawsuit and could not comment on pending litigation.

Attorney Craig Alexander, who represents the township, did not immediately return a call seeking comment. A message left for Chief Robert Rizzo was not immediately returned.

The lawsuit lays out a number of allegations specifically in the department’s treatment of Carson, but also includes claims of inappropriate behavior toward Black people, generally, including the use of racist tropes.

Carson accuses the department of dispatching unnecessary, additional officers for any police calls involving Black people and said that several officers, including Rizzo, make jokes using the acronym WWB, or Walking While Black.

The complaint said the acronym is used when police are called for a Black person walking in the township or standing in a shopping area when no crime has been committed.

In addition, the complaint said, one sergeant in the department, who went on to become a township commissioner, created a new radio code: 10-32, which the lawsuit said, is reference to a Black person being seen in North Huntingdon.

“There is no such code 10-32 in any reputable police handbook,” the complaint said.

Carson was hired as a patrolman in 2003 and was the first and only Black officer in the department, the complaint said. Throughout his tenure, the lawsuit said, he was subjected to comments and jokes about his race.

“On the first day Mr. Carson was permitted to go out on patrol alone in a patrol car, a police department dispatcher stated through the entire dispatch system that ‘a Black man is stealing a police car,’” the lawsuit said.

“This ‘joke’ at the expense of Mr. Carson has been repeated numerous times within the police department to the apparent delight of everyone within the police department.”

In one instance, the lawsuit said a sergeant in the department called Carson a racial slur. Carson reported the incident to Silka, and the sergeant was given five paid days off of work — “essentially a paid vacation,” the lawsuit said.

Later, the five days were converted to unpaid leave, according to the suit.

Carson also alleged in the complaint he was one of seven people to apply to be the department’s police chief in 2018.

He was interviewed twice and named a finalist. When the commissioners voted on the position, it was a tie between the two finalists, and the job was offered to the other person, the lawsuit said.

However, that person declined to take it.

Instead of then offering the position to Carson, the lawsuit said, the commissioners approached Rizzo, who had never even applied to be chief.

Rizzo declined the position twice, the complaint said, but finally took it after the salary was increased.

Carson said in the lawsuit he asked multiple commissioners why he wasn’t chosen to be chief.

“Those commissioners responded that Mr. Carson was not selected because he is Black,” the complaint said.

According to the lawsuit, as the department was considering a new chief, Silka wrote a memo comparing the two finalists’ personnel files.

In it, Silka referenced allegations Carson made of a hostile work environment in 2011 in which he questioned his removal from the department’s emergency response team. Silka also said the allegations Carson made that racial slurs were used against him were “hearsay.”

Carson also alleged he was treated differently than white officers in that his expenses for training were not paid for and he was subject to investigations involving petty incidents, like comp time claims, when they were not.

Carson filed a complaint with the EEOC in 2018 and was issued a finding that there was “reasonable cause to believe” he was denied the promotion to chief because he is Black and in retaliation for his complaints of race discrimination harassment.