National Roundup

Delaware
White police captain sues over claim of racial discrimination

DOVER, Del. (AP) — A police captain in Delaware has filed a federal lawsuit claiming he wasn’t promoted to police chief because he’s white.

WBOC-TV reports Dover police Capt. David Spicer filed the lawsuit Oct. 16 after his discrimination and retaliation complaint to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission was dismissed.

Former Deputy Chief Marvin Mailey, who’s black, was promoted to police chief in 2017. He retired earlier this year.

Spicer says in the lawsuit he was more qualified than Mailey because he has more degrees, training and experience. Spicer also says he was passed over for the role of deputy chief and then transferred to a new role that limited his future promotional opportunities.

Missouri
Police sergeant testifies he was told to tone down ‘gayness’

CLAYTON, Mo. (AP) — A St. Louis County police sergeant has testified that he was told to “tone down his gayness” to secure a promotion to lieutenant.

Keith Wildhaber testified at trial Tuesday that former St. Louis County Police Board of Commissioners member John Saracino issued the guidance in 2014.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that Wildhaber says the remark made him feel like he had “been punched in the gut.” He testified that he thought he would be evaluated for the position based on his body of work, “not the fact that I was gay.”

Saracino has denied he made the comment.

Wildhaber sued the department for employment discrimination in 2017.

County Counselor Mike Hughes says the reason Wildhaber was passed over for promotion had nothing to do with his sexual orientation.

Montana
Jamaican citizens sue exclusive club over wages

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Five Jamaicans recruited to work at a Montana ski resort for the ultra-rich say they and more than 100 other Jamaicans were discriminated against and paid less than other employees doing the same work.

They filed a lawsuit last year and are scheduled for settlement talks with the Yellowstone Club and a hospitality staffing agency this week.

The lawsuit alleges the Jamaicans did not receive tips or service charges included on restaurant and bar bills like other employees did during the winter of 2017-18 at the resort near Yellowstone National Park.

The parties declined to comment before Wednesday’s mediation.

The complaint argues the lost tips and service charges could amount to around $500 nightly for workers at the exclusive ski and golf resort near Big Sky.

Montana
Jail death leads to $1M payout

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — The family of a 64-year-old inmate who died in 2018 in a Montana jail has accepted a $1 million payout.

The Billings Gazette reports that Roger Lee Wells died at the Cascade County Detention Center in Great Falls on March 10, 2018, after suffering nine seizures during a period of roughly two-and-a-half hours.

Wells was arrested on a domestic violence charge and had been in the jail for seven days when he died.

A report by the state Division of Criminal Investigation found that jail staff failed to follow protocol in handling inmates with seizures.

In July, Wells’ surviving family was paid $1 million by the insurance carrier for Planned Parenthood of Montana, which has the contract to provide general medical services at the jail.

Iowa
Police: Man caught trying to steal home plate at ballpark

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Des Moines police have caught a man who says he wanted to steal home plate at the city’s minor league baseball park.

Polk County court records say Daniel Igel, listed as homeless, was arrested Friday morning at Principal Park, home of the Iowa Cubs, a Chicago Cubs affiliate. He’s charged with felony burglary. Court records don’t include the name of an attorney who could comment for him. Igel’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.

A court document says Igel was found after he climbed a fence to get into the park. He told officers he was trying to steal the plate and had scaled the fence the night before and tried to break into the press box. He says he hid in a dugout to evade officers who responded to a security alarm.

Wisconsin
Trial delayed in Masonic temple shooting plot

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The trial for a man accused of plotting a mass shooting in defense of Islam at a Masonic temple in downtown Milwaukee has been delayed.

The trial was set to begin Wednesday in federal court in Milwaukee, but prosecutors have appealed a judge’s decisions to exclude certain evidence.

Attorneys for 26-year-old Samy Hamzeh planned to argue that FBI informants encouraged him for months to purchase weapons for the attack and entrapped their client, who they say never owned a gun, has no criminal record, and was incapable of mass murder. The FBI has said their agents thwarted an act of terrorism when they arrested Hamzeh in January 2016.

The Journal Sentinel reports the federal trial has dragged on for four years because hundreds of hours of conversations in Arabic had to be transcribed and translated to English.

Georgia
Sex offenders sue over signs discouraging trick-or-treaters

JACKSON, Ga. (AP) — Three sex offenders in a Georgia county are suing the sheriff over signs warning families not to trick-or-treat at the offenders’ homes.

News outlets report the lawsuit filed in federal court asks Butts County Sheriff Gary Long to stop putting the signs in the yards of convicted sex offenders.

The lawsuit by Christopher Reed, Reginald Holden and Corey McClendon says some of the county’s sex offenders were told to either display the signs or face unspecified trouble. Long says a hearing is set for Thursday.

Long has said the signs comply with a state law that forbids sex offenders from participating in Halloween. Other counties including Spalding and Monroe have taken similar approaches. Last year, Monroe County
Deputy Marilynn Fitts said sex offenders without signs would have to spend the night at the sheriff’s office.