Jury Awards Officer $700,000 For Discrimination

An L.A. jury awarded Officer Officer Malcolm Thomas more than $700,000 Friday after he sued the city last year for discrimination and sexual harassment. The jury seemed to believe the officer's allegations, which if true paint a rather disturbing portrait of his unit's culture.

Thomas' lawyer said it was more like "Animal House" than "Law and Order." He was with a Los Angeles Police Department unit that trained new recruits.

Thomas is straight but was subjected to insinuations that he was gay.

He was sent text messages such as ``This is for all you homos voting no on Prop. 8.''

After an on-duty knee injury, Thomas said his sergeant gave him duties that were meant to worsen the injury.

He reported all this to LAPD's Internal Affairs, only to have his badge taken.

We're awaiting a response to questions put to LAPD Friday.

-With reporting from City News Service. Got news? Email us.