YEADON, PA (KYW Newsradio) — Two years after firing their former police chief, Yeadon Borough has agreed to pay $2.5 million to settle a discrimination lawsuit.
Former Yeadon Police Chief Anthony Paparo sued the borough for racial discrimination after his firing in February 2022 following a 4 to 3 vote to remove him from office.
Harold Goodman, who represented Paparo, says that same year, three new borough council members and one incumbent conspired to replace Paparo, who is white, with a black police chief.
The council, according to court records, says they fired Paparo after the borough was forced to pay $387,000 in back pay to members of the FOP due to violations of the collective bargaining agreement. They claimed he mismanaged overtime and part-time officer hiring.
“They used that as a ruse,” Goodman said. “He was fired, and we filed a lawsuit in federal court, claiming that he was not only the victim of race discrimination, but he was the victim of retaliation and defamation as well.”
Goodman says a trial may have netted Paparo more money, but that was not in his interest or the law firm’s. He adds Paparo is hoping the settlement, reached last month, restores his reputation so he can work in law enforcement again — if not Yeadon, elsewhere.
Attorneys for the borough and borough council, three of whom are no longer in office, declined to comment.