{"id":249058,"date":"2026-04-02T21:45:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T21:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/249058\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T21:45:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T21:45:10","slug":"city-worker-whose-racism-cost-fresno-15-4-million-named-in-assault-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/249058\/","title":{"rendered":"City Worker Whose Racism Cost Fresno $15.4 Million Named in Assault Case"},"content":{"rendered":"

The city of Fresno worker whose racial epithets helped lead to a $15.4 million verdict could cost the city even more as another civil lawsuit progresses in federal court.<\/p>\n

Code enforcement officer Howard Lacy, who GV Wire has learned still works for the city, was arrested in 2022 for misdemeanor assault while allegedly on duty, according to a federal lawsuit against him and the city.<\/p>\n

Fresno police confirmed Lacy\u2019s arrest but said that further details would require a public records act request. GV Wire has submitted the PRA request and is still awaiting the city\u2019s response.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

At the March 26 Fresno City Council meeting, homeless advocate Dez Martinez told councilmembers that she had warned the city administration about Lacy after she said he attacked her at a homeless camp before a nearby police officer stopped him and arrested him.<\/p>\n

GV Wire Senior Reporter David Taub contributed to this story.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou guys are getting sued for $15 million because he called somebody a derogatory name, what the f\u2014 are you going to do for me because he put his f\u2014ing hands on me, got arrested, and you guys didn\u2019t even charge him,\u201d Martinez said during public comment at the council meeting.<\/p>\n

Earlier in March, a federal jury sided with plaintiffs in a separate lawsuit that named Lacy and accused him of using a racial slur against a co-worker and also accused the city of racial discrimination. The jury awarded $15.4 million to the plaintiffs.<\/p>\n

Martinez sued the city and Lacy in 2024 for assault. That lawsuit remains active.<\/p>\n

Lacy declined to comment Thursday. The Fresno City Attorney\u2019s office declined to comment on pending litigation.<\/p>\n

Martinez\u2019s Lawsuit Against Lacy, City Allowed to Move Forward<\/p>\n

The lawsuit says that on Jan. 4, 2022, Martinez went to an encampment near Kings Canyon and Clovis avenues to record what attorneys called \u201cblatantly unlawful\u201d destruction of property. Martinez regularly advocates for homeless rights.<\/p>\n

While she was recording for social media, the lawsuit states Lacy attacked her, \u201cusing unreasonable and unnecessary force.\u201d The lawsuit also alleges excessive force from police officers at other dates following Martinez\u2019s attempts to document interactions between police officers and homeless individuals.<\/p>\n

The Fresno County District Attorney declined to file criminal charges against Lacy after evaluating the available evidence, according to a spokesperson with the office. The spokesperson said the matter was found to be civil in nature \u201cand did not meet the legal standard for prosecution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attorney Kevin Little, representing Martinez, said the actions violated her First Amendment rights.<\/p>\n

A federal court on March 23 allowed portions of the lawsuit, including the excessive force allegation against Lacy and other police officers named in the lawsuit, to move forward. The court sided with the city\u2019s request to dismiss several of the lawsuit\u2019s\u00a0claims, including a claim filed on behalf of another homeless individual.<\/p>\n

A case conference is scheduled for Oct. 8.<\/p>\n

Lacy\u2019s Actions Cost the City $15.4 Million in Separate Case<\/p>\n

The March 23 ruling comes only two weeks after a jury awarded two plaintiffs $15.4 million<\/a> in the earlier lawsuit against the city and Lacy.<\/p>\n

A jury agreed with two city workers who said that the city discriminated against La-Kebbia \u201cKiki\u201d Wilson because of her race. The two workers said Lacy used a derogatory racial slur against Wilson, who is Black, and then the city retaliated against her.<\/p>\n

The city may appeal that decision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The city of Fresno worker whose racial epithets helped lead to a $15.4 million verdict could cost the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249059,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":{"0":"post-249058","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fresno","8":"tag-fresno","9":"tag-fresno-headlines","10":"tag-fresno-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249058"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249058\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}