More payouts in dog food case
Two white Los Angeles Fire Department captains who were more severely punished than a Latino firefighter who put dog food in black colleague's Tennie Pierce's spaghetti - a prank that cost the city $2.7 million in settlement costs and legal fees - won a $1.6 million judgment Monday. Beth Barrett in the Daily News.
In the decision, jurors said it was both a finding that Capts. Chris Burton and John Tohill were too harshly treated - in an effort to lessen the impact of Tennie Pierce's case - and that the department's policies were unclear.
"It was the administration that seemed eager to throw Capt. Burton and Capt. Tohill to the wolves in terms of their careers," juror Heather Howe said after the decision.