Arlington Heights

Chicago Suburb to Pay Ex-Cop $275K in Discrimination Suit

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A Chicago suburb will pay $275,000 to a former police officer who says colleagues discriminated against him because of his Assyrian and Iraqi heritage.

Anfiny J. Eshoo sued the village of Arlington Heights last year, saying he was subjected to repeated and continuous comments about his national origin and race, the Daily Herald reported. He said in the federal lawsuit that he was called and referred to as the “Taliban,” and often found stickers, cartoons and other items reflecting slurs in his mailbox.

Eshoo served as a patrol officer from May 2016 until he was fired in January 2020. His termination came after an internal affairs probe in which Eshoo was accused of failing to properly conduct a preliminary investigation of a domestic battery, according to the lawsuit.

Under the settlement agreement, Eshoo will dismiss the lawsuit and withdraw a pending grievance that was set for hearing by an arbitrator Dec. 16.

The village denied the allegations, and both sides said the agreement is a compromise and settlement of disputed claims.

“As an attorney who settles cases all the time, that’s not an admission of guilt or innocence," Mayor Tom Hayes said. “It’s just a settlement to put the disputed issues to rest.”

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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