The city of Bloomfield, New Jersey, the fire dept, the fire chief, and firefighter Walter Coffey are all taking major heat as a result of numerous egregiously racist incidents that allegedly targeted Black firefighter Patrick Thomas.
According to Fire Law Blog, Thomas has filed a $25 million federal civil rights lawsuit against all of the aforementioned after he says he was subjected multiple times to the n-word with the hard-ER and had a noose shown to him twice. The complaint alleges that Coffey frequently used violent vocabulary in the presence of not only Thomas, but the station’s supervisors and chief with no consequence. To be clear, this is not a case of Coffey quoting rap lyrics or lines in a movie. The use of that word was specifically to “harass, intimidate, and as a means of informing minorities of their status as inferior within the institution,” says the complaint.
White New Jersey Firefighter Allegedly Taunted Black Co-worker With Noose
Thomas’ civil rights lawsuit states that the noose incidents happened within a week of each other on Nov. 8, 2023, and Nov. 16, 202,3, during training exercises at the fire station. In the first incident, Coffey allegedly asked his Black colleague, “Thomas, there is a noose upstairs on the table, did you see it?” Thomas says he asked Coffey who put the death instrument on the table, and Coffey allegedly smirked and said he didn’t know. Despite the fact that this happened in front of multiple witnesses, including station administrators, no investigation, questioning, or verbal discipline ensued, alleges Thomas in his lawsuit.
The second incident was even more inflammatory. During another training exercise, Coffey allegedly tied a hangman’s noose and presented it to Thomas, tauntingly saying, “I want you to figure out what kind of knot this is.” To which Thomas replied, “I know exactly what this is; this is a noose. This is what people used to hang my ancestors from trees. You think this is funny?”
Finally, after a month, Bloomfield decided to take Coffey’s actions seriously and began an investigation, only to have it halted by the Essex County District Attorney once he took over the case. No telling what types of conflicts of interest lie there, however, Coffey was eventually criminally charged on Dec. 14, 2023, for fourth-degree bias intimidation under N.J.S.A. 2C:16-1A(1). On April 1, 2024, the day of fools, an Essex County Grand Jury brought down an indictment. Despite all of those clearly fireable offenses, Thomas says that Coffey is still employed by the fire dept., happily receiving a check, and the “internal investigation” is still yet to be completed even after two years.
We hope this brotha gets every red cent of that $25 million.
