John Olsen, a former detective who served undercover for the New York Police Department, has filed a lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court, claiming that he was denied backup from fellow officers during violent confrontations due to his race. Olsen, a Marine veteran, alleges race discrimination and military status discrimination after being assigned undercover work in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood.

According to Olsen’s attorney, John Scola, the assignment to a predominantly Hispanic area increased the danger of his job as a white undercover officer, compromised his ability to make safe drug buys, and angered his superiors. The lawsuit highlights instances where Olsen was allegedly left without support from minority NYPD members during confrontations with drug dealers, including near-fatal incidents, solely because of his skin color.

The lawsuit, obtained by Fox News Digital, reveals that on Olsen’s first day of training in 2019, he heard a racially charged comment: “A White undercover, this will be fun.” He was the only white officer in the training program. These remarks were followed by a series of racially charged incidents and comments Olsen allegedly faced when he was transferred to the Northern Manhattan Detective Bureau in 2019. Olsen joined the NYPD in 2015 after serving in the Marine Corps in Afghanistan and was later transferred to the NYPD’s specialized Anti-Crime Unit before his undercover assignment.

The lawsuit claims that Olsen, as the only white undercover officer in a predominantly minority position, faced constant scrutiny. Despite excelling in his role as an undercover detective, Olsen claims he faced ongoing harassment due to his race, making his drug purchase operations riskier.

In one harrowing incident, just a couple of months into his job, Olsen was reportedly surrounded by suspects, physically assaulted, and threatened with his life during a drug buy in Harlem. Although a car filled with detectives observed the scene, they did not intervene, a violation of narcotics protocol. Undercover officers are required to have a backup officer, known as a “ghost,” nearby in case an operation escalates into violence.

“They watched [the attacker] walk back inside the housing projects,” Olsen said, according to the New York Post. “It was totally against our rules for narcotics to let that go.”

The lawsuit also states that fellow detectives did not want to provide backup to Olsen on that day, fearing association with a white undercover officer. According to the lawsuit, a case detective told Olsen, “Sorry kid, I’m not doing anything this isn’t 1992,” after the first assault.

In July 2019, Olsen allegedly faced another violent incident when he had to chase down and fight a drug dealer who pulled a knife on him. Olsen was attempting to buy crack in Hamilton Heights when he was not alerted by fellow NYPD members about the presence of another dealer. As a result, he operated without proper backup due to his race, according to the lawsuit. The dealer who sold crack then returned to Olsen, attempting to get him to smoke the substance to prove he wasn’t a cop before pulling a knife and threatening him.

“My life was in danger and I know that no one is coming to save me because of that last time, so I had to do what I had to do,” Olsen said, according to the New York Post.

Olsen pulled his gun, chased the dealer, and subdued him, but suffered torn labrum and rotator cuff injuries that kept him out of work until January 2020. The lawsuit states that normally such an incident would result in a transfer to a different command to give the undercover officer a fresh start, but Olsen was not transferred, allegedly because his bosses were unhappy with his performance in apprehending drug dealers.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)