D.C. Cops Will Hold Onto|$900K Retaliation Award

WASHINGTON (CN) - A federal judge affirmed the $900,000 judgment won by five black police officers who sued the District of Columbia for racial discrimination and retaliation.

A jury found last year that the Metropolitan officers were removed from their specialized plainclothes unit in 2006 and demoted because they complained that white cops were treated differently under their new lieutenant, Ronald Wilkins.

After four of the cops sent an anonymous letter to their commander, every cop in the unit had to reapply for their positions. When the five black cops complained again, their applications were denied.

After a three-week trial in 2010, a jury ultimately awarded them $900,000 in damages.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy Jr. rejected the district's motion for a new trial or to throw out the damages.

"The district has not established that 'the jury verdict was a "seriously erroneous result" and [that] denial of the motion will result in a "clear miscarriage of justice,"'" Kennedy wrote.

The judge also said the jury's awards of damages "were supported by the evidence adduced at trial and do not appear to be based on improper considerations."

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