Trial to begin in lawsuit by Black UW police officers alleging racism

SEATTLE — Jury selection begins this week for trial in a lawsuit filed by five Black University of Washington police officers alleging discrimination by white police supervisors and officers who they say regularly traded in racial stereotypes, crude commentary, threats and harassment.

The lawsuit alleges the UW administration knew of the issues — which have been smoldering for years — but did little. When a cadre of white police officers complained and eventually drove out the department’s first Black police chief, with some openly complaining that he was hiring too many Black officers, a school-sponsored investigation never considered racism as a motive, the lawsuit alleges.

The University of Washington denies the allegations.

“Plaintiffs allege that they heard a number of racial slurs by co-workers and other non-managers and that they were subject to other treatment which they perceive to be racially motivated,” the UW’s lawyers wrote in a failed motion to dismiss the lawsuit. “There is no doubt that plaintiff’s allegations are disturbing — if true.

“But those whom the plaintiffs accuse of engaging in or witnessing such conduct have credibly denied these allegations under oath, and will do so at trial,” they wrote.

The 33-page complaint details more than 100 separate incidents involving what the officers’ pleadings describe as “rampant, pervasive discrimination and retaliation” by fellow officers and supervisors.

The department’s Black officers allegedly were subjected to crude comments about Black male anatomy and a relentless stream of racist jibes — in one instance, a white officer allegedly offered a Black colleague a case of grape-flavored energy drinks, saying, “C’mon, you know you want it … I know your people love grape.”

Another of the Black officers, on a call with a white supervisor, reported that their suspect complained that he was only being confronted by police because “I am a Negro.”

The supervisor reportedly responded, “Well, I’ve got my own Negro with me.”

In another incident, a white officer reportedly entered the squad room to announce that his DNA tests showed he was 18% Black. “I get to say the ‘n’ word now!” he announced.

After the murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis in May 2020, one of the plaintiffs overheard several white officers joking about the death, with one saying Floyd “got what he deserved,” the lawsuit alleges. Another white officer reportedly added that Floyd’s family “is going to buy cars, gold chains and teeth when they sue the city,” according to the lawsuit.

“The five plaintiffs — constituting every unranked Black officer currently in the department — have experienced widespread acts of racial harassment and discrimination within the Department, including the use of the N-word and other racial slurs, racist stereotypes, physical intimidation and preferential treatment of white officers,” the 2021 lawsuit says. “UWPD has a culture of racial insults and mistreatment that UWPD management is aware of and sometimes directly involved in.”

The officers are identified in the lawsuit as Russell Ellis Jr., a 22-year law enforcement veteran; Gabriel Golden, a 10-year police veteran; Hamani Nowlen, a five-year police veteran; Damien Taylor, a 15-year police veteran; and Karinn Young, a 12-year veteran and the only Black woman.

According to the complaint, Young, a lesbian, reportedly found a banana in front of her locker with a note: “Here’s your (expletive) lunch, you (expletive) monkey.”

The lawsuit identified the accused offending officers only by an assigned initial “in an effort to reduce the likelihood of retaliation against them.”

The lawsuit claims a window was shot out at Nowlen’s Snohomish County home in August 2021, just months after the lawsuit was filed. Taylor said his mechanic told him that someone cut the brake lines of his car in August 2022, according to the claim.

Seattle attorney Toby Marshall declined to discuss the lawsuit pending trial, except to say, “Our clients look forward to their day in court and hope that truth and justice will prevail.”

Marshall said four of the five officers have since left the department. Only Nowlen remains with UW police, he said.

In a statement Friday, UW spokesperson Victor Balta said the university is limited in what it can say because of the litigation, but “we can firmly state that a review of the department in 2019 did not reveal racism but other issues surfaced, leading to changes including new UWPD leadership.”

The new chief, Craig Wilson, is Black.

The lawsuit alleges a racist culture has existed within the UW police department for decades and was exacerbated by the university’s decision to hire a Black police chief, John Vinson, in 2009. That hiring occurred after other officers had filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in 2008 alleging sexual and racial discrimination. The UW prevailed at a 2011 trial in that case.

Several officers and supervisors complained that Vinson was hiring too many “unqualified” officers, according to the lawsuit, which plaintiffs claim actually referred to his hiring of Black officers, including the five plaintiffs, all of whom have prior law enforcement experience.

“Their campaign eventually succeeded, and Vinson was forced out,” the lawsuit says. “Upon his departure from UWPD in 2019, Vinson made the UW and UWPD management aware of the significant problems with racism that he saw in the department.”

Vinson is expected to testify at the jury trial, being held before King County Judge Wyman Yip. The trial is scheduled to last into December, with more than 80 witnesses set to testify along with the proposed introduction of exhibits, according to court filings.