An African-American Boston firefighter is suing the Red Sox after he says he was denied entry to Fenway Park to make a safety inspection in 2013, reports the Boston Globe.
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Robert C. Cox, 50, filed the civil complaint this week and seeks unspecified damages.
According to the complaint, Cox, who is black, and two other city fire inspectors—Ronald A. Ingemi, who is white, and Rhoan J. Dalmar, who is black—arrived at Fenway during a World Series game on Oct. 23, 2013, to perform an inspection.
The trio—all dressed in plainclothes—entered at left field, where a Fenway security guard ushered the white firefighter in “without issue.” But the guard detained Cox and Dalmar and demanded to see additional identification, the court filing said.
The conversation apparently got heated between the two black firefighters and the unnamed security guard after Cox “repeatedly asked why their credentials were being questioned when their colleague was allowed to enter only seconds earlier without even having to flash” his city badge, the complaint said.
Boston police ultimately removed Cox from the ballpark.
Like many black people who are humiliated over obviously disparate treatment, Cox says he was “very emotional as a result of the encounter and has undergone therapy as a result of the treatment he received,” according to the filing.
The Globe reports that the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination found last year that “probable cause existed to support [Cox’s] allegations.”
Boston Red Sox owner John Henry declined to comment on the lawsuit Friday night.
Read more at the Boston Globe.
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