The U.S. Court of Appeals in New York has rejected the appeal of a Black officer with the Syracuse Police Department who sued the city two years ago for $33 million in damages, claiming racial discrimination by his superiors.
The ruling effectively ends the lawsuit by Brandon Hanks while upholding an October 2022 decision by U.S. District Judge Gary Sharpe, which found the officer failed to prove how he was harmed by the alleged actions of the department, which Hanks described as “Jim Crow” racist culture.
Sharpe’s 18-page ruling also determined that Hanks didn’t show proof that he was illegally targeted for internal surveillance.
Hanks filed the lawsuit in August 2021, claiming former Police Chief Kenton Buckner and other high-ranking members of the department retaliated against him after he appeared in a Facebook music video with “profane” lyrics, which sparked the internal investigation.
At the time, Hanks claimed he was being blocked from a 30-day rotation on the department’s gun violence task force, where he aspired to become the unit’s only Black member.
Internal Syracuse Police documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act show some members of the unit expressed serious concerns about Hanks, citing an internal investigation that found instances where the officer was present at the scenes of shootings while off duty.
Capt. Timothy Gay also claimed Hanks was too cozy with known gang members in the city.
“Hanks’ association with known gang members, a convicted criminal — felony and RICO known to be involved gangs — narcotics trafficking, and other criminal activity are cause for concern when considering a transfer to the Special Investigations Division,” Gay wrote in 2021.
The memo also mentioned that Gay reached out to internal investigators to discuss social media posts that showed Hanks alongside or tagged by individuals suspected to be gang members.
In disbelief, top brass…
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