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Former Yeadon police chief who claimed he was fired for being white awarded $2.5M in settlement
Anthony Paparo, a former Delaware County police chief who accused town leadership of ousting him due to his race, was awarded $2.5M in a federal discrimination lawsuit, his lawyer confirmed to FOX 29 on Tuesday.
YEADON, Pa. - Anthony Paparo, a former Delaware County police chief who accused town leadership of ousting him due to his race, was awarded $2.5M in a federal discrimination lawsuit, his lawyer confirmed to FOX 29 on Tuesday.
Paparo, known affectionately as ‘Chief Chachi,' sought legal action after the borough council voted in 2022 to remove him despite heavy support from Yeadon residents, some councilmembers and the borough mayor.
"If you could clone him, that's who people would want - chiefs, mayors, chief executives - would want around the country because he has decreased crime while being under budget," Yeadon Borough Mayor Rohan K. Hepkins said. "You'd be hard-pressed to find that type of performance, during the pandemic, crime went down."
Paparo alleged that his race played a large factor in his dismissal and took aim at the new borough council majority amid rumors they "wanted a Black chief in Yeadon."
Yeadon Borough Council votes to fire police chief Anthony 'Chachi' Paparo for allegations of overspending
The Yeadon Borough Council voted Thursday to remove police chief Anthony ‘Chachi’ Paparo following a month-long battle that included allegations of racism from the embattled chief.
"Residents were coming to me, various people were coming to me, and saying they're going to fire me in January. I was like ‘come on now," Paparo said back in Feb. 2022. "Then the rumors started that they wanted a Black chief in Yeadon."
Borough President Sharon Council-Harris refuted the claim, calling it "totally absurd." She maintained that Paparo violated a Fraternal Order of Police contract clause with years of overspending.
"Chief Paparo was responsible for two consecutive years of violating FOP contract clause by providing over hours to part-timers to the tune of $387,000 grievance and fine," Council-Harris said. "So that is really the heart of this issue."
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Yeadon police chief says he expects to be fired because he's white, council president calls claim 'absurd'
Yeadon Borough Police Chief Anthony ‘Chachi’ Paparo said he believes that a newly elected borough council will fire him so they can elect an African-American to lead the force. Council President Sharon Council-Harris called the accusation of racism is "totally absurd."
Residents in Yeadon, a 90% Black community, packed several town meetings in overwhelming support for Paparo. Some borough councilmembers like Liana Roadcloud even backed Paparo and supported his claim, revealing that she witnessed racist conversations.
Still, the borough council voted to remove Paparo from his position in late-Feb 2022. Yeadon Borough Police Lieutenant Sean Burns replaced Paparo in an interim role before Yeadon named Henry Giammarco its police chief on Jan. 2023.
Anthony Paparo's settlement was confirmed with the following statement Tuesday: "Racism took a back seat today in the Borough of Yeadon. Because of the support of its many residents, elected Councilors and Mayor, former Police Chief Anthony Paparo’s race discrimination lawsuit has been amicably resolved on terms that not only compensate him for the trauma of losing his job, but as well the harm done to his reputation and the pain and suffering he endured over the last two years. He looks forward now to reuniting with Yeadon’s residents with whom he had, and now again will have, a lasting friendship."