“I am a Caucasian man. I was employed by the city of Mascotte Police Department as an officer. The city hired a new chief. The new chief is Hispanic. In front of multiple witnesses the new chief said he was going to pave the way for Hispanic officers and that he was going to flex his Hispanic muscle,” Thompson wrote in a charge of discrimination complaint he filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in June against police Chief Ronaldo Banasco.
Scott Thompson, a former Mascotte police officer, said he feels he was racially discriminated against while working for the city’s police department.
Thompson, a self-proclaimed “Caucasian” man, claims the newly hired police chief’s racial indiscretion played a role in his termination in February.
“I am a Caucasian man. I was employed by the city of Mascotte Police Department as an officer. The city hired a new chief. The new chief is Hispanic. In front of multiple witnesses the new chief said he was going to pave the way for Hispanic officers and that he was going to flex his Hispanic muscle,” Thompson wrote in a charge of discrimination complaint he filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in June against police Chief Ronaldo Banasco.
Banasco, the city’s first Hispanic/Latino police chief, was appointed as chief in late January.
In the charge, Thompson says he heard Banasco make other racially insensitive comments and claims that, almost immediately after becoming chief, Banasco fired him and hired two Hispanic officers.
“The chief did not follow protocols for terminating me,” Thompson wrote. “I believe it was the chief’s decision to terminate me based upon discriminatory reasons.”
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