TROY — The city has reached a $295,000 settlement pending City Council approval with a retired Black police officer who filed a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging systemic racial discrimination that adversely impacted his job and personal life.
Mayor Patrick Madden’s administration has recommended that the City Council accept the settlement agreement for the case that is pending in U.S. District Court in Albany.
“This is a business decision proposed to be made in the best interests of the city and its taxpayers. Although a jury could find for the defendants in this case, there is evidence that some intrinsically objectionable remarks were made,” Corporation Counsel Richard Morrissey wrote in a memo to the council members.
“Sgt. French, who was plaintiff’s supervisor, will of course not be available to refute, explain, or otherwise provide any context for the conduct and remarks specifically attributed to him as well as for other alleged instances,” Morrissey continued.
French commanded the special operations section to which Johnson was assigned. French died in late April 2020 from symptoms associated with COVID-19.
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French’s fatal shooting of Edson Thevenin, a Black motorist who was unarmed, in an April 2016 DWI stop led to the city paying $1.55 million in Aug. 2021 to Thevenin’s family to settle an unrelated federal rights lawsuit. The fatal shooting of Thevenin also led to several protests in Troy.
Johnson said in the lawsuit that detectives humiliated him during undercover details, and when he confronted French about…
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