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Widow of FDNY Recruit Suing Over "Racist" Training Program
By
John Del Signore
Published Feb 13, 2009
Modified Feb 13, 2009
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By
John Del Signore
Published Feb 13, 2009
Modified Feb 13, 2009
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The widow of a probationary firefighter plans to sue the city for $10 million, accusing the FDNY of implementing a more strenuous physical regimen than other FDNY classes had undergone in the past. Sherita Sears, an NYPD officer, says her husband Jamel Sears, 33, died during training last November because instructors were pushing him too hard in order to weed out minorities. The FDNY was sued two years ago for allegedly discriminatory hiring practices; Sears's class included the most minorities in the departments history, with more than a third of the 297 members either black, Hispanic, Asian or female.
Sherita Sears's lawyer Ken Thompson alleges that new training requirements, which included carrying 100 pounds of equipment, were started to put extra pressure on the recruits. "This was the largest class of blacks and Latinos in Fire Department history," Thompson tells the Daily News. "Why did the department decide for the first time to implement this particular training? We're saying we believe there was a racial motivation there."
Thompson says he does not know what activity Sears (pictured) was engaged in when he collapsed. But the suit claims that an FDNY instructor prohibited trainees from helping Sears as he died, and it took EMS more than 15 minutes to reach the Fire Academy on Randalls Island. Sears was a Navy veteran and the father of two; his funeral was attended by Mayor Bloomberg and Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta. The FDNY declined to comment on the lawsuit.
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John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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