A black New York City firefighter claimed in a federal lawsuit that he was suspended by the fire department for opposing an order to use water pipes. Black people’s fate is also fate Protesters last year.
Omar Wilks, an 8-year veteran firefighter of FDNY, claimed that he was sentenced to 30 days and reassigned for publicly opposing the use of brutal methods against civil rights protesters and trying to “change the discriminatory culture”. New York Daily News Reported on Tuesday.
The 13-page lawsuit was filed in Brooklyn against New York City Police Chief Daniel Nigro (Daniel Nigro) and five other department officials.In court documents, Wilkes claimed that his superiors instructed him and other firefighters to kill a police officer George Freud May 2020.
Wilkes opposed this strategy — which was previously used as a barbaric means to disperse black civil rights protesters in 1963 — and claimed that he was subsequently the target of retaliation by fire department officials.
“Firefighter Wilkes was illegally punished for trying to change FDNY’s discriminatory culture,” his lawyer Aymen Aboushi said in court documents. “We will continue to fight for equality and ensure that the New York Fire Department does not retaliate against its members for taking the same action.”
According to the lawsuit, Wilkes also complained about the marginalization of black firefighters and the lack of diversity in the New York Fire Department. Fire department officials responded angrily to this.
The 41-year-old man was suspended by the fire department for 30 days after protesting outside the New York Fire Department headquarters. He was also reassigned to a “light” position, where he could no longer receive overtime pay and was forced to receive counseling before returning to work. Daily news Report. The lawsuit alleges that such actions were taken to “exhort” his freedom of speech.
The court documents allege: “These defendants tried to silence the plaintiff and prevent him from speaking.” “They also retaliated against him for his remarks…(and) worked together to file false claims against the plaintiff. “
The document added: “The defendant tried to portray the plaintiff as unstable and psychologically unfit to be a firefighter, and tarnished his image and reputation.”
In response to the lawsuit, a spokesperson for the city’s legal department said that these claims have not been confirmed.
City government spokesperson Nick Paolucci said: “At present, these allegations are made in the lawsuit and have not been confirmed.” Daily news“Before commenting, we will let the court process work.”
Weekly newspaper Contacted FDNY for more comments, but did not respond to the publication in time.
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