Dominican Police Sues NYPD for Mockery, Harassment and Discrimination against the "Stupid Spanish Language" | The State

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Hailyn Oliveras, a Dominican police officer for the NYPD canine division (K-9), claims he faced racial discrimination from one trainer and was ridiculed by another supervisor, after his police dog was hit by a car.

Oliveras, who joined the force in 2005, detailed in a lawsuit filed on December 23 that was kicked out of the elite K-9 unit NYPD after reporting workplace discrimination and harassment.

“It was difficult times to know that you joined an elite unit and your dog was hit by a car and then you became the object of racial discrimination and retaliation,” Oliveras lamented. “They are moving forward with everything they can do to stop my career. All this is motivated by a racist man who hates me ”.

Oliveras says he never had a negative review or a problem with any other supervisor during his 15 years in the force until he was assigned to the K-9 unit under Sgt. Daniel Hill.

Oliveras’ dog, Nick – named in honor of Auxiliary Officer Nicholas Peakaro, who was killed in the line of duty – was struck by a car in July 2019 after jumping a six-foot fence in a backyard, which would have unleashed taunts against the plaintiff.

Hill also supposedly he complained about Oliveras’s accent during a roll call in December 2019 and again in another incident in April 2020, saying that “Nobody can understand this stupid Spanish language.”

“My client faced the hard decision on whether to report the discriminatory conduct of his supervisor and risk retaliation, or allow the abuse to continue, ”said Oliveras’ attorney, John Scola. “He denounced the discrimination, which was corroborated; however, the NYPD decided, as is very common, to retaliate against him rather than deal with the discriminatory conduct. “