(Source Black information Network):
By Jovonne Ledet
A New Jersey mayor allegedly demanded that a Black resident be removed from a municipal building because of his race.
According to Pix 11, a lawsuit recently filed by Spotswood police officer Richard Sasso Jr. accuses Mayor Jackie Palmer of abuse of power, discrimination, and overt racism.
“There’s a completely hostile work environment,” Sasso said. “Our mayor is a self-proclaimed bully,”
The lawsuit details an alleged incident where the mayor went on a racist rant against a Black Spotswood resident who visited the borough’s municipal building. According to the lawsuit, Palmer ordered police to remove the man, who hadn’t committed any crimes, from the building.
When officers refused to comply with Palmer’s orders due to civil rights violations, the mayor allegedly said: “…and the elephant in the room is that he is [expletive] Black and this is not a diverse town, let’s be honest. I don’t need BLM and the KKK fighting on our front steps over this.”
Sasso said he was a part of an investigation into the incident and heard the mayor’s remarks in body camera footage.
“I was able to watch the full thing and those quotes were accurate,” Sasso said. “Everyone was so disgusted by it.”
“This is a Black individual who is harming no one, doing nothing to nobody except being present in Town Hall,” Patrick Toscano, Sasso’s attorney, added. “If you look at it objectively, it’s disgusting, it’s abhorrent, and the remark was racist.”
Sasso and his legal team want Palmer to leave her post as mayor.
“Bottom line here is, we’re strongly urging the mayor at this point to resign her position, effective immediately,” Toscano said.
In a statement, Palmer’s attorney, Eric Bernstein, denied allegations of racism.
“My client, Mayor Jacqueline Palmer, is being targeted by a handful of members of the Spotswood Police Department, who are trying to describe her as a racist and an interferer of police operations. Mayor Palmer is not interfering with, nor has she interfered with police operations nor is she a racist.”
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