New York Highway Worker Files Racial Claim

A highway worker who says he endured two years of “severe and pervasive” racial taunting has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city of White Plains, New York.

Clarence Thrower, who is black, says that — among other things — a night shift supervisor used racial epithets.

He says the harassment worsened after he and two white colleagues complained to city officials.

A complaint with the state Division of Human Rights determined that probable cause existed for the discrimination claim. Agency spokesman Manny Kottaram says that complaint was dismissed to allow Thrower to pursue the issue in court.

The city’s corporation counsel and Mayor Joseph Delfino did not return calls for comment.