The city of Charlotte settled a longstanding racial discrimination suit filed by a former fire department battalion chief last week — just days before announcing his wife would lead the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.
Lance Patterson and co-plaintiff Sylivia Smith-Phifer, a captain with the department, alleged in a 2018 lawsuit against the city that they were denied promotions and other opportunities because of their race.
They were among several Charlotte Fire Department officials who accused former chief John Hannan of discriminating against Black and female employees during promotion decisions. Hannan retired from the department in 2017. Patterson, then a 20-year department veteran, entered settlement talks with the city several years after filing the lawsuit. Negotiations broke down, however, and the dispute continued in the courts, according to documents filed in the Western District Court of North Carolina…