A New York police officer who made headlines after buying food for an alleged shoplifter is now suing the department and his captain over racial harassment and slurs following his good deed.
In July 2019, Louis Sojo and a few other officers were asked to confront a woman who was suspected of shoplifting at a Whole Foods grocery store in New York City. Sojo found food containers in the woman’s bag, filled with food from the store’s hot food bar.
The woman told Sojo she was hungry. The officers proceeded to pay for the woman’s food, each providing $10 to cover her meal.
Despite receiving nationwide praise for his act, Sojo said he faced years of scorn from his superior, Capt Julio Delgado.
In a new federal civil complaint, Sojo alleges that Delgado “was incensed, and berated and belittled him for the effort … by stating in front of Sojo’s subordinates that ‘you are not a real cop’”.
Sojo, who is of Puerto Rican descent, also alleges that Delgado repeatedly referred to him by the derogatory term “spic”.
Delgado also disparaged Sojo for owning a landscaping business, called him a “slumlord” and the “Spic Trump”, all while in front of other members of the police force, the lawsuit said.
On numerous occasions, Sojo attempted to ask Delgado to stop his behavior and was instead faced with threats, according to the filing, and Delgado threatened to eliminate Sojo’s overtime, refused to assign him to desk duty, and refused to grant him the right to a meal and bathroom breaks.
Sojo tried speaking to his supervisor, Chief John D’amo, as well as a lieutenant from NYPD’s special operations division, who oversaw complaints from Sojo’s unit, both to no avail.
When Sojo first encountered Delgado as a fellow sergeant, he said that Delgado claimed Sojo’s locker as a “hazing antic” and “mutilated it such that Sojo had trouble getting into his locker each morning, causing Sojo to be late for roll call every tour”.
“Sojo has suffered extreme economic, physical, mental and emotional damages as a direct result of the aforementioned discrimination, hostile work environment and retaliation,” the lawsuit said.
Sojo is not the first person to file a lawsuit against Delgado. According to the lawsuit, “Delgado along with the city have been subjected to civil lawsuits concerning discrimination and retaliation, with respect to discrimination against other subordinate members of the service, one of whom was Muslim.”
Sojo is currently suing the NYPD, Delgado and the City of New York for race discrimination and unequal treatment, color discrimination, retaliation and hostile work environment.
He has demanded compensatory and punitive damages, the amounts of which have not been disclosed.
