The City of Pittsburgh finds itself with the same legal troubles a Florida city did after hiring its former chief of police, who was accused of passing over white cops for promotions.
Pittsburgh Police sergeant Brian Elledge last week sued the city and ex-police chief Larry Scirotto, who led the department for more than a year before resigning in 2024 to continue working as a referee for college basketball games.
Scirotto had previously served as police chief in Fort Lauderdale, where he was fired for promoting minority officers over more-qualified white men. Four white officers sued Fort Lauderdale and obtained a $131,000 settlement.
Now, similar claims have come to the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas, thanks to Elledge’s lawsuit. He was a supervisor in a motorcycle-cop division before Scirotto had him transferred in July 2023.
A Black worker had complained Elledge was giving him less desirable work assignments. The ensuing internal report was “so bad” that Scirotto agreed it should be withdrawn, but Scirotto still moved Elledge out of his unit.
A month later, Elledge accidentally included the complaining officer, Larry Crawford, in a group text “in which he made a disparaging comment” about Crawford. He had been told not to have contact with Crawford, leading to an oral reprimand for insubordination.
Elledge’s union had filed a grievance against the City, asserting that his transfer was disciplinary and in violation of the collective bargaining agreement. An arbitrator ordered Elledge’s return in 2024, and that issue, after appeals, is now before the Commonwealth Court.
Those appeals effectively “double and triple down” on discrimination and retaliation against Elledge, he says.
“(T)he City argued that Scirotto’s transfer was made in an effort to protect Crawford, who the city referred to several times as ‘the victim’ of racial discrimination,” the suit says.
“Contrary to the City’s false and fanciful argument it is Elledge who is clearly a victim of the defendants’ ongoing reverse racial discrimination, harassment and retaliation.”
Thomas Anderson of Bordas & Bordas represents Elledge. His complaint includes information from Scirotto’s wrongful-termination case against Fort Lauderdale, including Scirotto’s comments on not choosing a senior white employee for a post.
Instead, he wanted to pick between two Black men. “Which one is blacker,” Scirotto asked, adding “This wall is too white.”
“The bottom row had several white males and one white female,” Scirotto told CNN.
“And we’re talking in conversations as it relates to our community and the expectation of a diverse and inclusive organization. And how do I purport we have that when the entire bottom row are white men?”
