Rampant Racism In Police Department Lawsuit Settled By NJ Town

WALL, NJ — A settlement was reached between Wall Township and a former police dispatcher alleging repeated harassment, according to NJ.com. The news comes days after allegations of sexual assault and hazing at Wall High School drew national attention to the township.

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.

READ MORE: Lawsuits Allege Rampant Racism In Wall Police Department

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.

Suresh Madhavan also sued the department alleging discrimination and pervasive racism, stating that the department did nothing to address it. Madhavan said that a married sergeant forced him to record a video of him having sex with his mistress at Madhavan's home, according to an Asbury Park Press report.

In the lawsuit, Madhavan said the sergeant used code words to indicate when a black person was the suspect in a crime and regularly used the "n" word.

Madhavan, who is Indian-American, was the only officer of color when he was hired in 2003, according to his lawsuit. He was fired in February 2016 following an internal affairs investigation into the sex tape, which he said he deleted and never showed to anyone but the sergeant.

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.

The exhibits include "get-well" cards that included comments such as "Guess your (sic) gonna need a new monkey heart. They should probably replace it with a monkey brain while they're at it," "If they use a baboon heart, I guess your body won't reject it," and other more graphic and vicious comments.

Sattiraju told NJ.com that he was disturbed when learning about the recent hazing allegations within Wall High School, although he could not make a direct connection to Curcio's case.

"These allegations at the school certainly support the idea that there’s a problem that the leadership in Wall Township, at all levels, isn’t doing enough to address," Sattiraju said.

The allegations prompted an investigation by the Monmouth County Prosecutor's office, which is looking into "acts of hazing occurred within the Wall Township High School football program" as well as "unrelated allegations that one or more sexual assaults involving juveniles took place off campus."

Since the first reports came out, two Wall High School football games were canceled, putting an end to their season. It has also been made public that three coaches and the Wall High Athletic Director were put on leave.

At a recent Wall Board of Education meeting, parents called for resignations and a number of current and former students described more incidents of assault, painting a picture of a culture of harassment within the school.

Additional reporting by Karen Wall.