Boston officer suspended over e-mail about Harvard scholar’s arrest sues mayor, commissioner

Suspended Boston officer sues mayor, commissioner

BOSTON — A Boston police officer suspended for using a racial slur to describe black Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. claims in a federal lawsuit that his civil rights have been violated.

Officer Justin Barrett said in the suit filed Monday that Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and Police Commissioner Edward Davis acted as “prosecutor, judge, jury” by saying that Barrett faces termination. The police department and city are also named as defendants.

Police say the 36-year-old Barrett used a racial slur in an e-mail about Gates’ arrest by a Cambridge police sergeant.

Barrett claims in his suit that public comments made by Menino and Davis have damaged his reputation and made him ill.

Menino and Davis refused comment on the suit through spokespeople.