Patterson v. New Orleans Fire Department

1BYRNES, Judge.

Chief Herbert Patterson is the Coordinating Deputy Chief/Senior Deputy Chief of the New Orleans Fire Department and has been *552employed by the City of New Orleans for nearly thirty years.

On November 18, 1994, Chief Patterson entered the office of the Firefighter’s Credit Union. In addition to the white teller, there was perhaps another white male and four African-American females present. Chief Patterson testified that this was more people than he would normally encounter in the small office prompting him to remark as he entered something to the effect that they must be “giving…