R&I~Smit
MINNEAPOLIS —Eight minority correctional officers at a Minnesota county jail have filed a racial discrimination lawsuit alleging only White employees were allowed to guard or interact with Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged in George Floyd’s death, while he was held at the facility last summer.
The lawsuit, filed in Minnesota district court on Tuesday, alleges a top official at the Ramsey County Adult Detention Center in St. Paul ordered employees of color to segregate on a separate floor away from Chauvin when he turned himself in on murder charges in May. It also claims the former officer received special treatment at the facility, including from a jail official who is related to his sister.
Two of the plaintiffs say in the lawsuit that they watched on a security camera as a fellow corrections officer, who is White, was granted “special access” to the unit where Chauvin was being held. The officers say in the lawsuit that they observed the woman on security camera footage enter Chauvin’s cell, sit on his bed and pat him on the back “while appearing to comfort him.” The corrections officer, who is not named in the lawsuit, allowed him to use her cellphone, the plaintiffs said — a violation of jail policy.
The lawsuit also alleges that Lt. Lugene Werner, one of the White jail officials on duty that day, asked a Black officer to help her “explain” the “segregation order” to the jail’s minority staff. According to public records, Werner is a relative of Chauvin’s sister.
Lucas Kaster, an attorney for the officers, said his clients learned that Werner had a personal connection to Chauvin after they made public complaints.
MTG303