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MEAWW.COM / NEWS / CRIME & JUSTICE

#KrollMustGo: Police union boss calling Floyd 'criminal' was sued by top cop for racism towards colleagues

Bob Kroll was accused of homophobia and sporting white supremacist symbols
PUBLISHED JUN 11, 2020
(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

Minneapolis Police Union Chief Bob Kroll, who referred to George Floyd as a "violent criminal" was reportedly named in a lawsuit detailing institutional racism. The suit was brought on by the Minneapolis Police Department's current chief Medaria Arradondo.

Kroll, 54, drew widespread criticism days after Floyd, an unarmed black man died in police custody. Amid nationwide protests against police brutality, Kroll wrote a letter to federation members describing Floyd as a man with a "violent criminal history," and denounced the protesters demonstrating for justice as "terrorists".

It was recently revealed that the police chief was among the five officers who had accused Kroll of racism and homophobia in a lawsuit filed in 2007 against the City of Minneapolis, Minneapolis Police Department, and then interim Chief Timothy Dolan, according to the Daily Mail. The lawsuit was revealed at a time when calls for Kroll's resignation are gaining momentum. Ever since Minnesota Lynx Coach Cheryl Reeve initiated the hashtag #Krollmustgo, it has been trending on social media.

The lawsuit against Kroll was filed by then Lieutenant Arradondo, Lieutenant Donald Harris, Sergeant Charles Adams, Sergeant Dennis Hamilton and Lieutenant Lee Edwards. The officers had alleged that the Minneapolis Police had "a history of tolerating racist and discriminatory remarks by its white police officers and engaged in discriminatory conduct against its African-American police officers."

A man holds up a sign reading "Kroll Must Go" during a march (Getty Images)

The officers pointed to comments made by Kroll as their proof. "A recent example of the tolerance... for racially discriminatory conduct by white officers includes, without limitation, comments by Lieutenant Robert Kroll in 2007 that United States Congressman Keith Ellison, [now Attorney General] who is a Muslim and black, is a terrorist," the suit stated. "Kroll also made discriminatory comments against a homosexual aid to the Minneapolis Mayor RT Rybak."

The officers, in the complaint, added that "an Inspector, a Deputy Chief of Professional Standards, and a Commander of Training were present when Kroll made these racist statements, none of whom objected or took any corrective action in response." The suit also alleged that "Upon information and belief, Kroll...wears a motorcycle jacket with a 'White Power' badge sewn into it."

The police union chief has been named as a member of City Heat, an off-duty police officer's motorcycle club. Many in the past have raised complaints of the club's link with white supremacy. The Anti Defamation League (ADL), in an article in 2011, had noted that City Heat "has members who have openly displayed white supremacist symbols,' including, "the most common Ku Klux Klan symbol, the so-called 'Blood Drop Cross'."

The four black officers, in their 2007 complaint, also cited a incident in January 1992 when "every African American officer at Defendant Minneapolis received a hate letter signed, 'KKK' through the interoffice police departmental mail. This letter threatened each African American officer's life."

The lawsuit was reportedly settled with an $800,000 settlement and the promise of change in 2008. However, according to former Chief of Police Janee Harteau, Kroll and the union "subverted and resisted" the change at every turn even after a decade.

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