‘Insane’: Long Beach Police’s First Black Helicopter Pilot Says He Endured Years of Racist Bullying By Colleagues. Now, Department Must Pay Him $500K to Drop Lawsuit
A Black former helicopter pilot with the Long Beach Police Department has been awarded $500,000 to settle a lawsuit after he accused his coworkers and supervisors of decades of racial discrimination. Michael Colbert, who flew choppers for the LBPD for 30 years, said he regularly experienced racism from colleagues, including epithets and Black jokes, ranging…