uium
3A
NEWS/The Charlotte Post
Thursday, March 6, 1997
City offers to settle Thompson lawsuit
Continued from page 1A
her of this community,”
McCrory said. “We extend our
compassion to the family of Ms.
Thompson. Settling this suit
brings closime to the case.”
•Police Chief Dennis Nowicki
said the settlement would avoid
the community polarization that
could possibly occmr if the case
came to trial.
“The process of the trial itself
would not be healthy for this
community,” Nowicki told
reporters Monday night after
the council vote. “It would not
be healthy for the Thompson
family or for the officer.”
The council voted unanimous
ly in favor of the settlement
offer after being encouraged to
do so by city attorney Mac
McCarley and outside legal
advisers.
“We believe the settlement
will be accepted by (the
Thompson family),” McCarley
said.
The council’s decision was
applauded by former state
NAACP President Kelly
Alexander Jr.
“Money can never replace a
mother, but it’s a step in the
right direction,” he said. “I think
it will go a long way to close a
lift in the community.'”
The Rev. James Barnett,
founder of the Stop the Killing
crusade, said he had hoped the
case would go to trial.
“I’m glad the family’s getting
something, but there are a lot of
unanswered questions that
need to be answered,” he said.
Nowicki said the Thompson
settlement is unrelated to
Cooper’s shooting by Officer
Michael Marlow, who has been
cleared of wrongdoing in that
case and remains on the police
force.
The Thompson and Cooper
shootings, plus a 1989 shooting
by a city police officer of Jake
King, an unarmed black man in
the Cherry community, led to a
number of discussions and
‘Buckwheat’
tights back
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
RALEIGH - A black Wal-
Mart employee has sued the
retail chain, claiming a former
store manager referred to her as
“Buckwheat” and other supervi
sors did not take her complaint
seriously.
The lawsuit, filed this week in
Wake Superior Court, is the sec
ond in three months filed by a
black employee accusing Wal-
Mart Stores Inc. of not taking
steps to discourage racist con
duct by employees.
Brenda Powell Morgan, who
stocks shelves at a Raleigh Wal-
Mart store, alleged in her law
suit that former store manager
Charles Stone, who is white,
referred to her as “Buckwheat”
while she was working Jan. 13.
The lawsuit also alleges other
employees at the store have
been subjected to racial slurs.
In the earlier Wal-Mart law
suit, filed in December, Felicia
Gray-Watson, who worked in a
Wal-Mart pharmacy in
Knightdale, filed a lawsuit that
claimed a supervisor told her,
“Slaves can’t quit, they have to
be sold.” Her case is still pend
ing.
Morgan told The News &
Observer of Raleigh in a tele
phone interview that she filed
the lawsuit because her com
plaints were treated hghtly by
supervisors.
“They have never offered an
apology or anything,” Morgan
said.
She said when Stone uttered
the slur, “he was just laughing
as if to say, “You can’t do any
thing about this,’”said Morgan.
Another employee was pre
sent, and when Morgan turned
to make sure Stone was speak
ing to her, she alleges, he looked
at her and repeated in a loud
voice, “Hey, you, buckwheat!”
Stone could not be immediate
ly reached for comment.
Betsy Reithemeyer, spokes
woman at Wal-Mait’s corporate
headquarters in Arkansas, said
Stone was fired after the inci
dent. She said the company
does not condone racism.
sometimes heated exchanges
among blacks and between
blacks and whites. Community
leaders, including
TransAmerica president Bill
Simms, an African American,
have called by a summit on race
relations. The Foundation for
the CaroUnas is now planning
such a sunmiit.
Thompson, a 32-year-old
mother of two, moved to
Charlotte from Lancaster, S.C.
two months before the shooting.
Officer Mark Farmer, who stUl
works on the Charlotte force,
was cleared of^jmy wrongdoing
in the Thompson shooting,
which occurred after
Thompson’s car slammed into a
utility pole in front of Nations
Ford Elementaiy School.
Farmer said he tried to stop
Thompson after seeing her drive
erratically near Tyvola Road.
After the accident. Farmer said
Thompson triqd to drive away
while he was leaning into the
car to take her key out of the
ignition.
When Thompson refused to
stop, according to Farmer’s
accoimt, he shot her four times.
Thompson, who was legally
drunk according to an autopsy
report, had been seriously
injured in the accident, includ
ing a compound fracture of the
right leg.
'Thompson family attorneys
contended she would have been
unable to drive the car, because
of the injuries and because the
vehicle was heavily damaged.
Its windows were shattered by
the force of impact. The axle
was broken and all four tires
were flattened.
Other evidence opposed
Farmer’s account of the shoot
ing. The spent rounds from
Farmer’s gun were found out
side of the vehicle and there
were no powder burns, which
the Thompson family attorney
contend should have been pre
sent if she was shot at close
original trial date had been
delayed by the city’s appeal of
earher court ruhngs.
The Associated Press con
tributed to this report.
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Witness testimony was also
inconclusive in supporting
FarmeFs account.
The Thompson lawsuit was
set for trial later this year. The
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