Jury Awards Fired Calif. Cop $1.6M

(AP)  A former Inglewood, Calif., police officer who was fired for punching a black teenager and slamming him against a patrol car in an incident that was

captured on videotape

was awarded $1.6 million Tuesday by the jury in a discrimination lawsuit he and his partner brought against the city.

The jury voted 11-1 in favor of the verdict for Jeremy Morse, said defense attorney Gregory Smith. He said the jury was unanimous in awarding $810,000 to Morse's partner, Bijan Darvish, who had been disciplined in connection with the 2002 incident.

"This is not the first time police officers have been trapped in race situations where they suffered unfairly," Smith said in a phone interview after the verdict was read. "This will have an impact in police departments across the country."

Morse, 27, said he was very happy with the verdict.

He had previously faced a charge of assault, but a judge dismissed it in February 2004 after two juries deadlocked. A jury acquitted Darvish of filing a false report.

A bystander videotaped Morse in July 2002 punching handcuffed Donovan Jackson in the head and slamming him onto a patrol car in Inglewood, just south of Los Angeles.

Morse, who is white, said he reacted to Jackson grabbing his testicles. The videotape does not show whether the grabbing occurred.

Morse was fired two months later, and Darvish was suspended for 10 days for filing a police report that failed to mention his partner's conduct. The two filed the discrimination suit against Inglewood in February 2003, alleging reverse discrimination, Smith said.

Inglewood Police Chief Ronald Banks, who is black, said in a phone interview Tuesday that race was not a factor in his decision to fire Morse and suspend Darvish, who still works as an Inglewood officer. The city has not decided whether to appeal the verdict.

"I based my decision on their actions and what I thought their responsibility was. It was based purely on the facts," he said. "I was shocked at not only the verdict but the size of the awards. It was somewhat ridiculous."

Mayor Roosevelt Dorn called the verdict inflated and inappropriate, but said it was up to the City Council to decide whether to appeal.