http://www.freep.com/news/mich/suit30_20031030.htm
A Michigan State Police commander charges in a lawsuit that he was removed from contention for a job promotion and targeted for retaliation because he is white, the Detroit Free Press says.
First Lt. Stephen Krafft asserted in a federal lawsuit that State Police Director Tadarial Sturdivant and another commander suspended him for 20 days without pay, reassigned him, and disciplined him for bogus and petty infractions after he complained about being passed over for promotion by a less-qualified black man. The two defendants are black.
Krafft accused Sturdivant and his predecessors of systematically discriminating against white men in their zeal to hire and promote minorities and women. “Steve Krafft has been a company man all his career,” said his attorney, James Fett. “If someone would have told him 10 years ago that he would be suing the Michigan State Police, he would have laughed in their face. But their conduct has been so outrageous, he felt he had no other choice.”
Krafft applied last year to be state casino gaming inspector, but Fett said Sturdivant wanted a black person to fill the job and sought to disqualify Krafft.
The suit said the department has promoted black people who have committed infractions including assault, overtime fraud, soliciting a prostitute while on duty and shooting the woman’s pimp.