Minneapolis to settle with police officer alleging discrimination

A longtime Minneapolis police officer who sued the city for discrimination is poised to receive a $225,000 settlement.

Officer Yvonne "Bonnie" Edwards alleges that a supervisor, Sgt. Andy Stender, harassed her and the city did little to stop his behavior.

City Council approved the settlement during a closed-door meeting on Friday. Court paperwork to finalize it has not yet been completed.

In her suit, Edwards outlines a number of interactions she had with Stender over four years. The two overlapped in the department's K-9 unit, where Stender served as a supervisor.

Edwards claims at one point Stender refused her request to become a trainer saying, "We've had enough women."

In 2014, she participated in a dog handling course and Stender took the "unprecedented" action of removing her K-9 shortly before graduation, forcing her to repeat the program, according to the suit.

Edwards also claimed that Stender denied her request to get a bomb-sniffing dog, a position that would come with lucrative overtime. She also accused him of meeting privately with his subordinates and forcing them to "choose to ally themselves with him" or Edwards.

While Stender's alleged actions are detailed throughout the lawsuit, he is not named as a defendant.

The City Attorney's Office declined to comment, through a spokesperson. In a court filing submitted earlier this year, the city either denied or said it did not have sufficient information about many of Edwards' allegations. Both officers are still employed by the city.

Neither Edwards nor Stender could be reached on Monday. Edwards' attorney, Nicholas G.B. May, did not respond to a message.

Liz Navratil • 612-673-4994