Looks like we haven't heard the last of Thomas Strain, the white Philadelphia cop who generated national headlines when he was taken off the streets for two days in September because he showed up to work with cornrows.
The officer's attorney, Tom Holland, said yesterday that an official complaint was filed on Strain's behalf with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission on Oct. 26.
The complaint alleges that the Police Department and Inspector Aaron Horne, who put Strain on desk duty on Sept. 3 until he agreed to cut his hair a few days later, violated the state Human Relations Act by discriminating against Strain because he's white - and engaged to a black woman.
"He was treated dissimilarly from African-Americans of the same rank with the same hairstyle, because he's white, because he 'crossed over' in a hairstyle," Holland said.
Holland contends that Horne, who is black, knew and disapproved of Strain's interracial romance, and expressed his disapproval through discipline.
Worse yet, Holland said, other police brass knew of Horne's actions and chose not to intervene.
Strain, a Marine who served in Iraq, joined the Police Department in 2004. He's assigned to the 35th District, headquartered at Broad Street and Champlost Avenue in Fern Rock.
Horne is the inspector in charge of the Northwest Division, which is where the district is located.
Holland said the complaint wasn't filed in attempt to get money from the city but because he wants the department to "institute better sensitivity training, more insightful race relations, more political correctness, as tired of a phrase as that sounds.
"You gotta walk the walk. You hear the talk all the time about political correctness and how the city is an equal-opportunity employer," Holland said.
A police spokesman declined to comment yesterday. Previously, the department told the Daily News that Strain had not been disciplined.
Holland said he did not think city officials have received a copy of the complaint yet.
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