LAPD officer awarded $3.1 million by jury in retaliation case

LAPD officer awarded $3.1 million by jury in retaliation case
Robert Hill, a 25-year veteran, said superiors retaliated against him after he reported that a sergeant used racial epithets and may have been involved in embezzlement. Jurors vote 11-1 in his favor.
By Victoria Kim, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 23, 2008

A Los Angeles jury Monday awarded $3.1 million to a Los Angeles police officer who said he was retaliated against for reporting that his superior used racial epithets and might have been involved in embezzlement of department funds.

Robert Hill, a 25-year veteran of the department, said he was called a "rat" and moved to an inferior assignment at a less desirable division after he reported that Sgt. Gilbert Curtis used racial slurs -- "wetbacks," for instance -- and made derogatory statements including, "If God loved them, why did he make them black?"


The officer had also raised concerns that Curtis might have been stealing funds from the department's Youth Explorer Program. Curtis, who according to an LAPD roster is Latino, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Hill, who is white, alleged in court papers that he was told by superiors to drop the complaint against the sergeant if he wanted to save his job.

Gregory Smith, Hill's attorney, told jurors in the trial that Hill suffered from depression after his superiors "cooked up this scheme" to punish him for violating a "code of silence" that existed within the department.
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