Judge rules city owes attorneys fees totaling $342,000 in MLK parade civil rights lawsuit filed by

Judge rules city owes attorneys fees totaling $342,000 in MLK parade civil rights lawsuit filed by black police officer


The city of Tulsa was ordered Friday to pay $342,046 to attorneys for a black Tulsa police officer who sued the city after he was told by a superior to march in the 2010 Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade.

U.S. District Judge John Dowdell, in an opinion issued Friday in Tulsa federal court, upheld a magistrate’s recommendation that attorneys for Police Capt. Walter Busby were due from the city fees totaling $336,682.50 and expenses totaling $5,363.84.

Dowdell ruled Jan. 25 that the city violated Busby’s civil rights when it retaliated against the officer after he objected to being ordered by a superior to march with other officers in the city parade.

Busby was the only police captain so ordered. Two white captains in Busby’s division volunteered to march, while another white captain was allowed to take holiday leave during the parade.

Read more: https://www.tulsaworld.com/news/local/government-and-politics/judge-rules-city-owes-attorneys-fees-totaling-in-mlk-parade/article_69e2b08d-70a3-5917-a86b-815ba1219418.html