Newly appointed white American chief police of New Herber, Utah faces lawsuit alleging racism

Parker Sever faces two lawsuits alleging race-based abuse against Black-American officers at his former police department in California.

By Edward Era Barbacena 

The Heber City Council unanimously voted to approve Parker Sever as the city’s new police chief and he was sworn in on Oct. 16, 2023.

Before coming to Heber, Sever served as the chief of police in Hanford, California, for about a decade. Two lawsuits from current and former Hanford Police Department officers allege Sever engaged in overtly racist conduct while he worked there.

The first lawsuit was filed in January of 2023 by Jason Stingley, a Black man and former officer at the Hanford Police Department. The lawsuit alleges Sever and two other Hanford Police Department employees directly targeted Stingley through racial discrimination and retaliation to the point Stingley was forced to resign.

The second lawsuit was filed in December of 2023 by Patrick Jurdon, another police officer at the department. The lawsuit alleges Jurdon faced hostility, retaliation and disparate treatment for attempting to hold other members of the police department accountable for racially discriminatory behavior. Sever and four other Hanford police employees are named in the suit.

The City of Hanford and the Hanford Police Department are defendants in both suits.