Echoes of Imus Comments in Planned Suit Against Police

Three female police officers, including a 15-year veteran detective, are accusing supervisors in the police department of referring to them in the same racially charged manner that resulted in the firing of radio host Don Imus.

Police officers, Karen Nelson, 31, Tronnette Jackson, 36, and Maria Gomez, 29, of the 70th precinct in the Kensington section of Brooklyn are filing a lawsuit with the federal government against two of their supervisors for directing racist comments at them during a morning roll-call on April 20, their lawyer, Bonita Zelman said.

The sergeant leading the morning meeting said "stand up you ho's," and when the three officers refused the request, another officer said, "you mean nappy headed ho's," Mrs. Zelman said.

An Equal Employment Opportunity complaint was filed with the department over the incident, a spokesman for the police department, Assistant Chief Michael Collins, said.

The sergeant, whom Mrs. Zelman identified as Sergeant Carlos Mateo, was stripped of his supervisor duties and transferred from the 70th precinct last Friday, police sources said. The department had concluded that the sergeant was unfit for a supervisor position prior to the incident, and the allegations precipitated the move, police sources said.

The other officer charged with making racist comments, whom Mrs. Zelman identified as Officer Ralph Montanez, will be interviewed by the department after all three plaintiffs have been questioned, police said.

In a similar allegation, a 15-year veteran police officer, Detective Aretha Williams of the Queens Narcotics Division, filed an EEO complaint charging that a supervisor on April 12 told her, "Don't give me no lip, before I have to call you a nappy headed ho."