NYC Cop Sues City Over Supervisor's ‘Kardashian Chic' Comments on Black Boyfriend

Officer Vanessa Weinbel claimed her supervisor told her "people should stick with their own because your kids won't come out right or look like you"

What to Know

  • Officer Vanessa Weinbel filed a lawsuit Tuesday against NYPD Lt. Rasheena Huffman, alleging two years of racial and sexual comments
  • Weinbel, who is white, claimed that Huffman, who's Black told her that she looks "Kardashian chic" and that's why Black men like her
  • When Huffman found that Weinbel had a Black boyfriend, she made offensive comments against interracial relationships, the lawsuit alleges

A white New York City police officer was told by a supervisor that she looks "Kardashian chic" in reference to her having a Black boyfriend, she alleged in a lawsuit filed against the city.

Officer Vanessa Weinbel claimed in the suit filed Tuesday in Brooklyn against NYPD Supervisor Lt. Rasheena Huffman that she faced two years of racially and sexually offensive comments, including being told "people should stick with their own because your kids won't come out right or look like you" — and the department did nothing about it.

Weinbel alleged that comments started back in July 2016 with Huffman, who is Black, was talking about a party for the NYPD Guardians Association, a police fraternal organization with mostly African-American police members.

The 35-year-old lieutenant allegedly said Weinbel has the look of reality star Kim Kardashian-West and that's the reason why Black men like her. When Huffman discovered that Weinbel's boyfriend is African-American she responded, "He probably isn't even Black," according to the lawsuit.

In a separate incident, Huffman allegedly said the U.S. Census will have to create a new check box labeled "confused" because Weinbel's child cannot check black or white.

Some of the insensitive comments made against Weinbel happened in front of three other senior officer, according to the complaint. Lt. Hwan Kim, Sgt. James McKenna and Sgt. Steven Anderson, also named in the lawsuit, allegedly "failed to take appropriate disciplinary action."

In September 2017, Huffman allegedly asked Weinbel whether she had seen the news about a white man stabbing a Black person just because of the color of their skin. When Weinbel said "no," Huffman said she should consider herself lucky because "the only thing they hate worse than Black people are interracial relationships. They're tired of seeing Black men with white women."

A year later, Weinbel filed a complaint with the NYPD's Office of Equity and Inclusion, but the offensive comments continued until March 2018.

In response to the lawsuit, a NYC law department spokesman said: "If these allegations are true, this conduct is troubling. The city has zero tolerance for discrimination of any kind. We’ll investigate the facts as we proceed with the litigation."

The NYPD did not immediately return a request for comment.

Weinbel, who works for the Police Service Area 9 in Flushing, is seeking unspecified damages, NBC News reported.

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