Colorado City Settles Fire Department Race Discrimination Suit

The City of Aurora, Colorado has agreed to settle a race discrimination suit brought by probationary firefighters who washed out of the department during their first year for $480,000. The suit was filed in 2015 by two lateral hire firefighters who relocated from Kansas and Florida to Colorado to join the Aurora Fire Department.

The firefighters, Calvin Brown and Jesus Garcia, claim that their problems started after they witnessed an academy instructor “target and berate” an African American candidate and cooperated with a disciplinary investigation that resulted in the instructor being disciplined. Brown, who is African American, and Garcia, who is Hispanic, claim they were targeted by friends of the disciplined instructors and flunked on skills practical they previously excelled at.

Brown and Garcia filed suit alleging race discrimination and retaliation. Two additional African American firefighters, Christopher Henderson, and Sean Thomas, were added to the suit which alleged that minority hired were washing out of the department at three times the rate of white candidates. Besides the $480,000 payment, the city has agreed to provide diversity training to its fire academy staff for the next five years.

Here is a copy of the original complaint:  Brown v Aurora