An American Indian man formerly employed with the Logan County Sheriff’s Office has not plausibly shown he was the victim of discrimination and retaliation, a federal judge has ruled, even though the defendants did not deny the elected sheriff had repeatedly made racist comments to employees.

Shadowhawk A. Tiger, who worked as a detention deputy between August 2017 and July 2018, was surprised to learn the state had rejected his application as a prison guard based on a poor reference from his former employer, the sheriff’s office. Because Tiger believed he left on good terms and had no discipline against him, he alleged the derogatory information stemmed from his complaint to a superior about Sheriff Brett Powell’s alleged racism.

“Within the first two weeks into the job with Logan County, Sheriff Powell called Mr. Tiger ‘his BFI’,” claimed Tiger in his lawsuit. “Mr. Tiger asked Sheriff Powell what BFI meant. He was told that it meant ‘Big F—ing Indian.'”

But earlier this month, U.S. District Court Chief Judge Philip A. Brimmer dismissed Tiger’s claims after deciding the allegations did not amount to violations of the U.S. Constitution or nondiscrimination law. Among other things, Brimmer found it implausible Tiger’s onetime report about the sheriff’s comments prompted the negative reference to the Colorado Department of Corrections more than two years later.

“For instance, plaintiff has not alleged that Powell had a motivation for taking the adverse action, let alone that Powell’s motivation was a ‘desire to retaliate,'” Brimmer wrote in a Sept. 13 order, “given that plaintiff’s allegation of protected activity is a single complaint to his sergeant more than two years before the reference, with no intervening retaliation.”

Tiger’s attorney, as well as the lawyers for Powell and the other Logan County defendants, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tiger, who belongs to the Cheyenne tribe and lived at the time in Sterling, came to work at the sheriff’s office after serving in the military, his lawsuit described. Soon after joining, Powell reportedly called Tiger a “BFI.” Tiger became upset and complained to his sergeant.

“That is just the way the sheriff is,” the sergeant allegedly replied. Tiger claimed Powell subsequently yelled at him during a training exercise for reporting him to the sergeant.

The sheriff allegedly referred to Tiger as a BFI repeatedly during his employment, and also reportedly called the only Black deputy a “BFN,” or “Big F—ing” N-word.

In July 2018, Tiger resigned, informing the sheriff he wanted to return to school. At the time, Tiger had no disciplinary history. After a semester in community college, Tiger applied to work for the corrections department.

During the background check, however, the department reportedly informed Tiger he would be “permanently ineligible for employment” based on “negative employment history with a prior law enforcement entity.”

Tiger attempted to track down the source of the negative information. Multiple Logan County officials, including Powell, allegedly told him there was nothing negative in his work history with the sheriff’s office. But in appealing the Department of Corrections’ decision, Tiger learned Undersheriff Ken Kimsey had authored a reference claiming Tiger had “unacceptable” honesty or integrity because Tiger allegedly “said he was going to police academy, never did” upon his resignation.

“White employees or ex-employees of the County are treated in a different manner and fashion and are not blacklisted from employment using fabrications. White employees or former employees are not given negative references based on fabricated allegations,” Tiger’s attorney, Casey J. Leier, wrote in the lawsuit.

As a result of the blacklisting, Tiger reportedly suffered reputational harm in his small community and moved out of state.

The defendants in the lawsuit – Powell, Kimsey and Logan County – did not address whether the sheriff did, in fact, make racist comments or whether Kimsey’s statement about Tiger’s dishonesty was fabricated. Instead, they argued Tiger’s various claims of discrimination, retaliation and denial of equal protection under the law must be dismissed.

“Plaintiff presents no direct evidence that his negative employment reference was racially motivated. For instance, simply believing Sheriff Powell referred to him as ‘Big F—ing Indian’ or ‘BFI’ more than a year prior does not establish … that the negative reference was due to his race,” wrote lawyers for the defendants.

Brimmer, in analyzing the case, recognized the existence of a 2001 decision of the federal appeals court with jurisdiction over Colorado. In the case of Stidham v. Peace Officer Standards & Training, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit determined a state police officer who, like Tiger, resigned and was unable to obtain government employment elsewhere due to the defamatory statements of his former employer had not established a violation of his constitutional interest in continued public employment.

Brimmer agreed Tiger’s allegations fell in the same category. Further, Tiger had not stated a violation of his equal protection under the law because he had failed to identify a white employee in his situation who was treated differently.

“The plaintiff must still identify at least one comparator to support a minimal inference of discrimination,” Brimmer noted.

He also found little support for Tiger’s claims of retaliation, noting the allegedly negative reference from Kimsey came long after Tiger first complained about the sheriff’s racist comments and, moreover, Tiger’s report of prejudice did not amount to a “matter of public concern,” a key component of speech-motivated retaliation claims featuring government employees.

“In this case, the allegations show that plaintiff’s complaint to his sergeant was focused entirely on Powell’s comments to plaintiff, not on any broader issues” of discrimination, Brimmer concluded.

The judge dismissed Tiger’s claims and barred him from refiling the lawsuit.

The case is Tiger v. Powell et al.