{Beckley, West Virginia}...U.S. District Judge Irene Berger has dismissed claims against police investigator Frank Priddy and two other unidentified officers after former Sophia Police Officer Damon McDowell sued, claiming he was fired because he's black. Last week's ruling lets most allegations against Beckley officer Timothy Capehart and another, unidentified officer stand. Berger ruled that, because McDowell isn't suing the city of Beckley, he can't sue the officers in their official capacity. He can, however, sue Capehart and the other officer as individuals. McDowell, the only black officer on the Sophia force, was fired earlier this year after just six months on the job. He contends it was the culmination of harassment schemes that included hiding paperwork so he'd miss court appearances, drawing penises on his papers and telling jokes with a racial epithet in his presence. Berger's ruled that McDowell has presented "adequate facts" to suggest that the officers' conduct may have been racially motivated and done in collaboration with his former boss, Sophia Police Chief Tomi Peck, who was an officer in Beckley before she became chief in Sophia. Peck says she fired McDowell after he left an Applebee's in Beckley without paying his bill.
