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PLEASANT GROVE, Utah (AP) -- Police officer Ernesto Ferron has filed suit in federal court claiming he has been treated with contempt at work because of the Mexican-American heritage.
Ferron, who is still on the police force, alleges in the June 6 lawsuit that a former supervisor told him, "Mexicans are merely here to serve others," and "Mexicans are better with weedeaters in their hands."
The lawsuit names as defendants the city, Ferron's former supervisors Kelly Liddiard and Jim Taufer, former Mayor James Dankleff and City Attorney Christine Petersen.
It asks $900,000 in damages, removal of Peterson as city attorney and establishment of an effective harassment reporting mechanism for all employees.
David Church, the attorney representing the city in the case, said the lawsuit is without merit, and, "As far as the accusations go, we will only deny them all."
Police spokesman and Capt. Cody Cullimore said Liddiard and Taufer are no longer employed by the department.
He said department policy prohibited anyone in the department from commenting on the lawsuit and he referred all questions to Church.
Ferron claims in the lawsuit that his supervisors intentionally seized opportunities to make last minute changes in scheduling to give him the most unsavory and undesirable shifts. He also alleges that every advancement opportunity he applied for was denied because of his ethnicity.
Ferron, who has worked for the police department since 2000, also claims that Dankleff and Petersen knew of Liddiard's acts but did nothing about it and instead tried to protect Liddiard from disciplinary action.
Ferron's attorney, David L. Nelson, said, "Ernesto loves his job in Pleasant Grove. These actions occurred mostly in the past and most parties who perpetuated these discriminatory actions have either quit or have been let go. We are just hoping for some changes to ensure this won't happen in the future. We have worked long and hard to negotiate with the city, but we have not had any success."
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Information from: The Daily Herald, http://www.heraldextra.com
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
