Fired Police Officer Sues Claiming Anti-Semitic Harassment

Courthouse News Service reported yesterday on a lawsuit filed in a Michigan state trial court (Oakland County) by Lowell Phillips, a former officer in the Ferndale, Michigan police department. Phillips was the only Jewish officer on the force, and he contends that he was subjected to a barrage of anti-Semitic harassment and discriminatory treatment.  After he was involved in a high-speed chase in which he ultimately killed a suspect in self-defense, the police department fired him. Phillips claims the police department used the shooting as a pretext, and that he was actually fired because he is Jewish and in retaliation for his complaining about harassment and discrimination.