Former Indian American cop sues New Jersey town’s police department for discrimination

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Suresh Madhavan, an Indian American police officer who was fired by the Wall Township in New Jersey, has sued the town’s police department alleging discrimination, pervasive racism and persistent harassment from a sergeant.

Madhavan had been serving on the force since 2003 and was fired in February 2016 following an internal affairs investigation, where he was accused of lying about taking a video of one of the married sergeants having sex with his mistress at the plaintiff’s home, according to a Patch.com report.

Madhavan deleted the sex tape and showed it only to the sergeant, who in return started harassing him and forced him to let him use his apartment for liaisons with his mistress.

When Madhavan brought up his concerns to his superiors, they never acted upon them and even did not investigate the claims of domestic abuse and drunken driving by the sergeant.

The Indian American officer has also alleged that he never got a promotion in all of the years he had served and instead those promotions went to white officers.

In addition, Madhavan alleged that he was subjected to derogatory language, racial slurs and was “intentionally humiliated” as he was made to do minor tasks around police headquarters like painting, according to a Patch.com report.

According to an NJ.com report, Madhavan was the only officer of color when he was hired and was required to ride with a second officer while on patrol.

According to Asbury Park Press, Wall Township administrator Jeff Bertrand has said that the department is still reviewing the document.