In their lawsuit, officials allege that the Ramsey County Adult Adult Center forbids them to “communicate” with Chauvin, “who is white,” or where to go, on the floor where he was being held. The order was given by the supervisor, Steve Lydon, of the detention center.
“Lydon refused to allow the plaintiffs to fulfill their professional responsibilities because of their race and the color of their skin,” the lawsuit states. “The reassignment of plaintiffs and the blatant discrimination of Lydon have broken the trust between employees and management.”
The lawsuit alleges that Lydon “after some time” met with the relevant correctional officials and “denied that he was racist and defended his decision”, but said he had changed his mind.
In a statement following the initial discrimination charge, Lydon expressed regret in his decision to briefly ban the officers from the areas.
“Realizing that the assassination of George Floyd was likely to cause a serious acute race, I felt I had an immediate duty to protect and support employees who may have been traumatized and potentially ongoing trauma by Chauvin to deal with, ”Lydon said. at that point.
“Out of care and concern, and without the hassle of time, I made the decision to limit exposure to colored employees to a murder suspect who could aggravate those feelings.”
Lydon said at the time he withdrew his decision within an hour.
‘I then met with the individuals who were working at the time and explained to them what my thought process was at the time and assured them that the decision was made out of concern for them and that it had nothing to do with the concern about their professionalism or Chauvin’s safety, ”he added. “I realized I had made a mistake of judgment, and apologized to the employees involved.”
CNN reached out to Ramsey County and Lydon officials about the new civil lawsuit, but did not hear about it.