$8.4 million awarded to White California police officer in reverse discrimination case

A jury has awarded million to a former White police officer who alleged he faced discrimination and retaliation by Korean-American command staff at the La Palma Police Department Ross Byer joined the department in May and completed his training that August with positive performance evaluations according to court records His performance remained satisfactory until he was reassigned that year to a different sergeant Related Articles Judge orders new trial in decade-old murder incident as scrutiny of Oakland detective grows Orinda police failed to notice loaded gun stashed by felony suspect inside patrol car feds say Alameda DA seeks to dismiss matter against former San Leandro cop in killing of Steven Taylor A California police captain helped secure a multimillion-dollar surveillance deal Now he works for the contractor San Diego considers million settlement in police-involved shooting death of Black teen Byer alleged the sergeant who is Korean-American favored a Korean officer on the same shift and routinely gave Byer a heavier workload During the trial he acknowledged giving Byer more assignments than Byer s Korean partner records show Byer stated the therapy to Capt Jesse Amend in January and February alleging disparate cure and remarks about wanting an all-Korean police force Byer s legal unit noted Evidence presented in court proved that two other white officers had previously raised similar concerns about Sgt Won Koh including retaliation and negative evaluations One of them was later terminated Attorneys for Byer argued the testimony demonstrated an ongoing pattern of discrimination that city supervisors failed to address In May Koh issued an annual evaluation rating stating that Byer requirements improvement which denied him a pay increase according to court records Department records introduced at trial established Byer s patrol activity closely matched his Korean partner s Byer resigned on June saying he supposed he was about to be fired his attorneys stated A week later Byer met with the city s human information staff to account discrimination retaliation and concerns about alleged racial profiling directives reporting that Koh directed him to target Black drivers for traffic stops records show Notes from that meeting were forwarded to senior management but no analysis followed according to testimony Byer s lawsuit accused the city of discrimination based on race and national origin retaliation and failure to prevent discrimination He waived suggests for lost wages and other economic damages before trial seeking compensation only for emotional distress Attorneys for the city argued that Byer s emotional distress stemmed from earlier personal losses unrelated to his job including the loss of his father when he was a child and the loss of his daughter in and urged jurors to award no more than The city had offered to settle the affair before trial revealed Christian Petronelli one of Byer s lawyers Byer s attorneys sought million The jury deliberated for about five hours Byer mentioned On Tuesday Dec the jury unveiled La Palma liable for million in past and million in future non-economic damages totaling million Byer s attorneys Mitchel Vanderpool and Petronelli disclosed reverse-discrimination cases are laborious and rare particularly in Orange County This matter is about accountability Petronelli reported Police hold us accountable if we speed or run a red light This affair is about who holds the police accountable when they violate the law Byer is no longer working in law enforcement and has pivoted to a career in home inspections All I needed was to be a police officer Byer declared in a brief interview on Thursday But I knew that after suing and winning I d be unhireable The City of La Palma revealed in a message that it takes this matter seriously and is reviewing the verdict with legal counsel to determine next approaches The city declined to provide further comment