This story sounds more like the City of St. Louis wanted to hire anyone but the guy who brought this lawsuit. A white-skinned police lieutenant who applied to be Chief is suing discrimination cost him the job, even though the city hired a white guy from somewhere else. The plaintiff claims that because the hiring committee considered two other candidates who were black, and perhaps attempted to hire one, somehow he was discriminated against.
It is scary that someone like a police officer has so little clue.
The St. Louis Dispatch reports that Sack is claiming that the city was originally determined to hire one of two other Black officers to be chief before it eventually settled on Tracy.
According to a complaint filed by Sack's lawyers, one Black candidate, Melron Kelly, withdrew from consideration, while the other, Larry Boone, declined the city's offer because it "could not get him the car he wanted, in addition to the compensation package offered."
The suit says that, after the two Black candidates were out of the running, the administration decided to hire an outsider in Tracy, who at the time was chief of police in the Delaware city of Wilmington, instead of an internal candidate like Sack.
The rationale for this, allege Sack's lawyers, was for the city to avoid acknowledging that Sack "was always qualified" for the job.
