Settlement Of Lonnie Blackwell’s Discrimination Lawsuit On City Council Agenda, Ganim To Submit Budget

Lonnie Blackwell
Lonnie Blackwell. Photo by Ned Gerard, CT Post

The agenda for Monday night’s City Council meeting includes a “Communication from City Attorney re: Proposed Settlement of Pending Litigation with Lonnie Blackwell, referred to Miscellaneous Matters Committee.” The issue stems from a federal discrimination lawsuit filed more than three years ago in which Blackwell, former head of the Guardians minority police organization, claims he was “subjected to harassment, ridicule and unfavorable employment practices.” See council agenda here.

From Brian Lockhart, CT Post:

The proposed settlement comes four months after Blackwell was demoted from lieutenant.

He was accused by the city’s Office of Internal Affairs of conspiring to disseminate a racist hate letter in the Police Department.

Blackwell denied involvement. No criminal charges were lodged against him.

For more on this read here.

Mayor Joe Ganim will submit his proposed budget to the City Council no later than Tuesday, per City Charter regulation, for the budget year starting July 1. It will then be referred to the Budget and Appropriations Committee that will spend April and May interviewing department heads, conducting public hearings and implementing changes prior to a full vote of the council before it goes back to the mayor for possible veto action.

0
Share

5 comments

  1. Once again the taxpayers of the City of Bridgeport get stuck footing the settlement payment to a guy who should not have even been on the job. It seems with all his connections Blackwell was able to have all his arrests from Stratford Police nolled so he was allowed to test for the Bridgeport Police Department. Then he was allowed to test for a Lieutenant position when he wasn’t eligible because he was buddies with then-Chief Bryan (Gary Coleman) Norwood and a union attorney Harry (Idiot) Elliot who couldn’t interpret language in an agreement between the City and the Union which wasn’t ratified until weeks before the exam. Blackwell comes out number 1 on the list and eventually is made head of the Police Academy where he treats it like a piggy bank clearing an average of $170k a year although he wasn’t even a certified instructor. In the end he comes out a winner. He receives a settlement on his bullshit lawsuit and even though he got demoted to Sergeant his pension will be based on what he earned. Do the math. 50% of $170k is $85k a year. We sure have a bunch of sorry asses minding the store in Bridgeport.

    0
  2. How dare the city demote a brother just trying to make an extra buck and bring attention to the other off-duty Anglo organizations that beef with the true-blue Guardians of Bpt? A Brother who has been blessed to be on the P/D regardless of his past bad-boy days, no? Tough being a P/D pretty boy these days and thinking the world revolves around you! *** Bpt. taxpayers to be screwed once again! ***

    0

Leave a Reply