Former Radnor Township police officer files civil rights suit

A former officer filed a civil rights suit Monday in federal court against the Radnor Township Police Department, its chief, and five officers, alleging racial discrimination.

Nick Lai of Philadelphia alleges that the discrimination began May 1, 2013, the day he was hired. He has been terminated, according to the court filings.

Lai is the brother of Tina Lurie, wife of Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie.

Efforts to reach Lai were unsuccessful. He filed the lawsuit himself.

Radnor Police Chief William Colarulo said he had no comment.

Lai worked for the Philadelphia Police Department for 17 years and for the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office, according to court records.

He also filed a case with the state's Human Relations Commission and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission on Nov. 20, 2013, and attached a right-to-sue letter to the EEOC.

Radnor is about 85 percent white, according to census data. Lai is Asian.

The suit alleges that officers would speak to him in a loud tone and act as if they did not understand his accent. He said he was singled out because he spoke up and that his training officers did not talk with him. He was not provided overtime opportunities and was made to feel uncomfortable when he spoke Vietnamese, his native tongue, to an Asian man involved in a car accident.

"The approach from these officers, including Chief Colarulo, exemplifies the disrespect and ignorance I faced daily because I was the only nonwhite officer," the suit states.

In one case, Lai says, he was partnered with an officer on patrol in the Roberts Road area for an overnight shift. The officer, who had been asleep, woke and told Lai to make a U-turn and stop a young black man walking on the side of the road, to check for identification and warrants. The man did not have any outstanding warrants, according to the lawsuit.

"This event was the most embarrassing moment in my life," Lai alleges in the lawsuit. The officer "was racially profiling black people in Radnor Township, Delaware County."