Opinion ID: 74381
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Benjamin Steele

Text: 51 Sergeant Steele alleged that his transfer and reassignment requests likewise were denied because of his race, however Steele too failed to show he was treated differently than a similarly situated black officer. In June 1994, Sergeant Steele requested in writing to his superior, Captain Nash, that he be permanently transferred from the Jail to the Training Division for firearms instruction. In July 1994, Sergeant Steele requested in writing a reassignment to the day shift. Both requests were denied. Sergeant Steele also argued that his temporary removal from participation in a rotation of firearm training instructors was motivated by race. The evidence in the record is not sufficient to sustain the verdict as to any of Steele's claims. As for the transfer claim, the evidence reflects that only one officer, a white man, was a permanent fire range instructor at the time in question. Because there was only one such position and it was not held by a black officer, there was no similarly-situated black comparator and no evidence that the denial of Steele's transfer request was because of race. See Holifield, 115 F.3d at 1562. Similarly, with respect to the reassignment claim, Steele offered no evidence of a similarly situated black comparator who received a reassignment similar to the one he was denied. As for the claim regarding Sergeant Steele's temporary removal from the firearm training rotation, Defendants argued that Sergeant Steele was removed from the rotation temporarily because the Jail was short of sergeants. Sergeant Steele also conceded that there was a shortage of sergeants at the Jail during his regularly scheduled shift, and he offered no evidence suggesting this proffered reason for his temporary removal from the firearm rotation was pretextual. Based on this record, we conclude that a reasonable jury could not have found the Defendants' legitimate, non-discriminatory reason for Sergeant Steele's temporary removal from the training rotation to be pretextual, and we therefore reverse the jury verdict rendered in Steele's favor.