New York City has agreed to pay a white NYPD officer a hefty settlement after being mocked by a Black supervisor for her interracial relationship.
The lawsuit, filed in November 2019, claimed that Lt. Rasheena Huffman bullied Officer Vanessa Weinbel for her romantic involvement with a Black man while the two worked together in Police Service Area 9. Huffman allegedly called Weinbel the “Kardashian chick” and told her that Black women were “tired of seeing black men with white women.”
The tension between the officers escalated when Huffman began making sexual comments about Weinbel’s butt size, calling the woman “too curvaceous,” and claimed she was trying to seduce men with her body, according to suit documents. Weinbel said three senior officers heard Huffman’s remarks but failed to take any action. Instead, she was instructed to stop “taking everything so personal.”
Originally seeking $15 million in damages, the lawsuit was resolved with a $190,000 settlement this week.
During her administrative trial last February, Huffman said she did not mean to offend Weinbel, who called the ordeal “extremely uncomfortable.”
“I never meant it as harassment. It was always in a joking way,” Huffman maintained.
