Wall Racism Lawsuit Settlement Includes $1M Payment: Report

WALL, NJ — Wall Township has settled the lawsuit brought on by a former police dispatcher alleging repeated harassment in the police department.

The estate of Nicholas Curcio will be paid $1,000,000 in the settlement, according to the Asbury Park Press.

Of that amount, $500,000 will be paid by the township and the rest will be paid by the insurance company, the publication also wrote.

The lawsuit was filed in 2018 on behalf of Nicholas Curcio, who allegedly suffered at the hands of members of the police department starting from the time he was hired in 1994 as a police dispatcher. Curcio had been on unpaid suspension from his position as communications supervisor since August 2016.

The former dispatcher died in May of this year after a battle with heart and liver disease and diabetes, according to NJ.com.

His has been the third lawsuit related to workplace harassment that Wall has settled in the past three years.

Since 2018, settlements alleging discrimination in the workplace have cost the township almost $3 million, according to Asbury Park Press.

Curcio said the harassment he was subjected to went beyond words. Among the incidents detailed in the suit is one where a mock photo was produced with captions implying Curcio was a monkey and saying he had sex with chimpanzees and gorillas.

Also submitted with the lawsuit is a mocked-up letter on official Wall Township Police Department letterhead dated December 1996 saying Curcio was to report for questioning to explain his "whereabouts" on a date in which "30 angry baboons killed a man out of revenge" in Uganda, a mocked-up photo caption accusing Curcio of having sex with chimpanzees, gorillas and monkeys and a drawing on a get-well card from the police department of a gorilla in a cage and with a tag saying it was Curcio.

Curcio was of Italian-American descent and has olive-colored skin, according to the lawsuit. However, his diabetes had caused discoloration of his legs, making the skin black.

He said he was asked if he was "half-black" and harassed because of his health condition.

"Plaintiff was called 'Monkey,' or some derivation thereof, on a daily basis to ridicule the fact that he had artificial parts in his heart," the lawsuit alleges.

Additional reporting by Karen Wall.

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