Mayor to pay ex-chief of police for racial issues

WOODMERE, Ohio (AP) — A jury Monday ordered the mayor of a Northeast Ohio village to pay $1.2 million to a former black police chief who says he was retaliated against for supporting white officers, the chief’s lawyer said.

A U.S. District Court jury in Cleveland ordered mayor Yolanda Broadie, who is also black, to pay former Chief LaMont Lockhart the money as punitive damages, said attorney Subodh Chandra. The jury also awarded $800,750 in compensatory damages to be paid by the village and Broadie.

Broadie retaliated against Lockhart when he tried to protect two white officers from being fired by falsifying his evaluations and three times locking him out of his office, Chandra said.