Cop files bias suit Says he faced racial slurs from fellow officers
A veteran NYPD sergeant alleged in a multimillion-dollar Brooklyn lawsuit that his Egyptian heritage made him the target of racial slurs, insults and workplace abuse from his supervisor and other cops.
Plaintiff Kappa Farid, 54, alleged that his 123rd Precinct colleagues also derided him because of his age, and he claimed one boss helped destroy his marriage by moving him onto the midnight shift over his objections.
“The complaint alleges Farid was scared, believed he was in imminent danger of physical and violent attack, and faced workplace hostility on a regular basis,” said his attorney Marshall Bellovin.
According to an updated July 24 filing in Brooklyn Federal Court, a fellow officer referred to 18-year police veteran Farid as a “sand monkey” and two of his colleagues in the Staten Island precinct openly mocked the sergeant’s Arabic accent.
Precinct commander Kenneth Noonan even ordered Farid to sit mutely during team meetings at the stationhouse rather than speak a single word, according to the lawsuit.
There were also threats of violence, the lawsuit alleged, including one from Noonan, who was promoted to deputy inspector one month after his Oct. 2, 2018, blowup with Farid.
“I will come and f—k you up,” Noonan allegedly declared during a heated phone call. A few months earlier, Noonan made another threat of physical violence while standing behind Farid as two other officers watched, the lawsuit alleged.
Police Commissioner James O’Neill said an investigation of Noonan’s alleged telephone threat found that the allegation was “unfounded and unsubstantiated.” Noonan faced no departmental discipline, and was promoted to the NYPD’s prestigious Counterterrorism Bureau.
Another ugly confrontation involved Sgt. John Tuscano, who was hitting a civilian inside the precinct stationhouse when Farid intervened in 2016, according to he lawsuit.
“Tuscano reacted by clenching his first and grinding his teeth directly at plaintiff, which was reasonably construed … as an intention to immediately strike plaintiff,” the court documents charged.
A spokesman for the New York City Law Department said the agency would “review the complaint and respond to these allegations as we proceed in the litigation.”
The NYPD said the department launched an “aggressive investigation” into the allegations but the matter is now in the hands of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
“The NYPD takes these allegations extremely seriously, and there is no place in the Department for this type of behavior,” read a department statement. “The NYPD continues to monitor the situation closely, and is prepared to take additional corrective action as needed.”
According to the 21-page lawsuit, Farid had other runins with Noonan. In one case, the lawsuit alleged, Noonan threatened to “f—-ing tow” the sergeant’s car if he found the vehicle parked in the 123rd Precinct’s lot.
In another, Noonan allegedly made a homophobic remark mingled with an insult toward the sergeant’s ethnicity when discussing a gay cop, according to the lawsuit.
“Kappa, if this guy was in your country they will take care of him — as [in], killing him,” Noonan was quoted in the lawsuit as saying.