Jury Orders La Palma to Pay $8.4M to White Officer Over Police Discrimination

A jury has awarded $8.4 million in damages to a former white police officer who said he was subjected to reverse discrimination by a Korean American supervisor, finding the City of La Palma responsible for failing to prevent discrimination based on race and national origin.

At a trial held at Orange County Superior Court on December 9, jurors concluded that the City of La Palma bore responsibility for allowing discriminatory conduct to go unaddressed. According to a report published on December 11 by the Orange County Register, the plaintiff, Ross Beyer, joined the La Palma Police Department in May 2022. His initial performance evaluations were positive, but he said conditions changed after he was assigned to work under Sergeant Koh (given name not provided), a Korean American supervisor.

In his lawsuit, Beyer said Sergeant Koh favored Korean American officers on the same shift and assigned Beyer a heavier workload. Beyer reported what he described as discriminatory treatment to Lieutenant Jesse Umend, Sergeant Koh’s superior, on two occasions in January 2023 and February 2023. Beyer also alleged that Sergeant Koh said he “wanted a police organization made up entirely of Korean Americans.”

Police department records disclosed during the trial showed that Sergeant Koh rated Beyer’s performance as “needs improvement” even though Beyer’s patrol activity was nearly identical to that of his Korean American partner. Beyer said the evaluation resulted in a wage freeze. The records also showed that Sergeant Koh had previously issued negative evaluations to two white officers, one of whom was later fired.

Amid concerns that he might also be terminated, Beyer left the La Palma Police Department on June 1, 2023. One week later, he met with a City of La Palma Human Resources official and raised allegations of discrimination, retaliation, and instructions involving racial profiling. Beyer said Sergeant Koh directed officers to target Black drivers for traffic stops. Records showed that these statements were forwarded to senior city officials, but it appeared that no separate investigation was conducted.

Beyer later filed a lawsuit seeking compensation for emotional distress, alleging discrimination and retaliation based on race and national origin, as well as failure to prevent discrimination. His legal team initially sought $14 million in damages. The City of La Palma argued that Beyer’s emotional distress stemmed from the 2020 death of his daughter and said any damages should be limited to $35,000. The jury instead awarded $3.92 million in past damages and $4.48 million in future damages, for a total of $8.4 million.

Attorneys for Beyer said reverse discrimination cases are rare and difficult to prove, calling the verdict a meaningful decision holding law enforcement accountable. The City of La Palma said in a statement that it is reviewing the verdict and will determine its next steps after consulting with legal counsel.

BY KYEONGJUN KIM [kim.kyeongjun1@koreadaily.com]