A former Black police K-9 officer for Inglewood, California, is suing the city for discrimination and retaliation, claiming he was fired after calling out the police chief for displays of racism evoking the Ku Klux Klan and for unfair treatment as he recovered from a gunshot injury.
Marcco Ware had worked for the Inglewood Police Department for 15 years when he was sidelined in March 2022 by an on-duty injury — two gunshot wounds. At that time he’d been a K-9 officer for almost three years, and his assigned K-9 partner was Flynn, a dog he shared a close bond with, according to the lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on May 5, and obtained by Atlanta Black Star. He was also issued a vehicle for both work and personal use.
In June of 2022, while he was still recovering from his injury, the dog and the vehicle were removed from his custody. This upset Ware, who argues that other non-Black colleagues in the K-9 unit have been off work for investigations or injuries and did not have their K-9 partners or vehicles taken away. That includes a Hispanic colleague who was investigated for misconduct, the complaint says.
Ware was the only Black K-9 officer in the department, which has six K-9 teams, and the only officer to have his K-9 partner and vehicle removed while healing for an injury suffered on duty, he claims…