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KARAGIOSIAN TRAIL: BURBANK OFFICER TELLS OF YEARS OF ETHNIC HARASSMENT, DISCRIMINATION
Burbank Leader
http://articles.burbankleader.com/2012-03-27/news/tn-blr-0328-karagiosian-takes-the-stand_1_burbank-officer-ethnic-slurs-steve-karagiosian
March 27 2012
CA
Burbank Police Det. Steve Karagiosian claims other officers made
offending comments about his ethnicity.
March 27, 2012|By Maria Hsin, [email protected]
The Armenian American police detective who is suing the city over
allegations he was harassed and discriminated against because of
his ethnicity took the stand during his suit's trial this week,
sharing with the jury years of alleged ethnic slurs directed at him
and Armenians in general.
Det. Steve Karagiosian testified that other officers, including
detectives and sergeants, made disparaging remarks about Armenians
from the moment he joined the department in 2004 to begin his training.
Karagiosian said he initially did not report the comments because of
his junior rank.
"I was brand new, I wasn't about to complain to anyone," he said this
week in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
At one point, Karagiosian said he discussed disparaging comments
allegedly made by fellow Officer Aaron Kendrick. Kendrick later
apologized, Karagiosian added.
When Karagiosian was able to pick his schedule, he chose shifts that
Kendrick and other officers who allegedly made ethnic slurs were not
working. The harassment briefly subsided, Karagiosian testified,
but picked up after an interview with Irma Rodriguez Moisa, an
outside attorney hired to investigate an anonymous letter alleging
discrimination in the department.
Despite being told the interview was confidential, Karagiosian said
about a month after his interview with her, a "majority of officers
knew what was said."
Karagiosian said at one point, he reported everything to his supervisor
because he was ready to discuss "everything that he had not complained
about that I thought was inappropriate in the workplace."
But after hearing that former Police Chief Tim Stehr would be
unsympathetic, and after the content from his first interview with
an investigator was apparently leaked, Karagiosian testified that he
decided to keep his complaints private out of fear of retaliation.
The city has contended in court that Karagiosian told an investigator
he wasn't offended by remarks about his ethnicity and that he only
filed a lawsuit after fearing disciplinary action when the FBI began to
investigate the department about allegations of excessive use of force.
Karagiosian said he was cleared from any wrong-doing by the FBI after
the agency requested his file and that of 37 other officers.
Burbank Leader
http://articles.burbankleader.com/2012-03-27/news/tn-blr-0328-karagiosian-takes-the-stand_1_burbank-officer-ethnic-slurs-steve-karagiosian
March 27 2012
CA
Burbank Police Det. Steve Karagiosian claims other officers made
offending comments about his ethnicity.
March 27, 2012|By Maria Hsin, [email protected]
The Armenian American police detective who is suing the city over
allegations he was harassed and discriminated against because of
his ethnicity took the stand during his suit's trial this week,
sharing with the jury years of alleged ethnic slurs directed at him
and Armenians in general.
Det. Steve Karagiosian testified that other officers, including
detectives and sergeants, made disparaging remarks about Armenians
from the moment he joined the department in 2004 to begin his training.
Karagiosian said he initially did not report the comments because of
his junior rank.
"I was brand new, I wasn't about to complain to anyone," he said this
week in Los Angeles County Superior Court.
At one point, Karagiosian said he discussed disparaging comments
allegedly made by fellow Officer Aaron Kendrick. Kendrick later
apologized, Karagiosian added.
When Karagiosian was able to pick his schedule, he chose shifts that
Kendrick and other officers who allegedly made ethnic slurs were not
working. The harassment briefly subsided, Karagiosian testified,
but picked up after an interview with Irma Rodriguez Moisa, an
outside attorney hired to investigate an anonymous letter alleging
discrimination in the department.
Despite being told the interview was confidential, Karagiosian said
about a month after his interview with her, a "majority of officers
knew what was said."
Karagiosian said at one point, he reported everything to his supervisor
because he was ready to discuss "everything that he had not complained
about that I thought was inappropriate in the workplace."
But after hearing that former Police Chief Tim Stehr would be
unsympathetic, and after the content from his first interview with
an investigator was apparently leaked, Karagiosian testified that he
decided to keep his complaints private out of fear of retaliation.
The city has contended in court that Karagiosian told an investigator
he wasn't offended by remarks about his ethnicity and that he only
filed a lawsuit after fearing disciplinary action when the FBI began to
investigate the department about allegations of excessive use of force.
Karagiosian said he was cleared from any wrong-doing by the FBI after
the agency requested his file and that of 37 other officers.