The City of Hastings settled a lawsuit with a police officer, who says he was a victim of racial discrimination. 
 
 Hastings police sergeant Cleon Brown says online DNA test results from last year show he's 18 percent African. 
 
 Brown says as soon as other officers found out, many stopped talking to him and others joked about it. He says the Hastings police chief even called him a racially-charged name. 
 
 Brown sued the city for $500,000 last year. To settle the lawsuit, Hastings will pay Brown $65,000. 
 
 He will also be on paid suspension until the end of October. At that point, Brown will be required to resign. 
 
 Hastings city manager Jeff Mansfield said, "The city did not believe the lawsuit had merit. But when comparing the settlement to the cost and disruptive effect of defending the case. It was in the city's best interest to resolve the case on the terms in the mediated settlement agreement." ||||| (CNN) A white police officer in Michigan who says he was taunted by fellow officers when he told them that he was part black will receive a $65,000 settlement, his attorney said. 
 
 His colleagues at the police department were whispering "Black Lives Matter" while pumping their fists as they walked past him and his police chief referred to him as "Kunta," he said. (Kunta Kinte is a character in Alex Haley's novel, "Roots: The Saga of an American Family.") 
 
 "It was almost like a disgraced type of reaction that I got from them like, 'Why are you proud of this type of thing?'," he told CNN affiliate WDIV 
 
 The Santa head 
 
 Around Christmas 2016, someone placed a black Santa head in his Christmas stocking. It had "18%" written on its beard, the suit says. 
 
 "I call it straight up racism," Brown told the affiliate. 
 
 The city rebuts the officer's claims. 
 
 "During this most recent holiday season, a good friend of Brown found a tan color ceramic Santa head sitting in his own stocking with "18%" written on it. Not knowing where it came from and knowing his friendship with Brown, the officer placed it in Brown's stocking," the city statement said. 
 
 It goes on to say: "The officer who placed the Santa in Brown's stocking then went to Brown to apologize for doing so, since he heard that Brown was upset about the incident." 
 
 Officer plans to leave city 
 
 Brown's attorney says his client is disappointed with the outcome. 
 
 As part of the settlement, Brown will continue receiving salary and benefits through October 31, but he can't seek future employment with the city of Hastings, his attorney Karie Boylan said. 
 
 The officer is planning to sell his home and look for employment outside of the city. 
 
 "They didn't want this to be a big case. He was hoping that by filing the complaint the harassment would be over, but it wasn't," Boylan said. 
 
 City had disputed claim 
 
 Prior to the settlement, the city had disputed Brown's claims and claimed the officer "joked" about the results of the genetic test with colleagues: 
 
 "Other officers have stated that after Brown first told them about the test results they never approached him about it again. Instead, it was Brown who specifically went to other officers, raised the topic, joked about it, and engaged in typical racial stereotypes. Clearly, Sgt. Brown welcomed his interaction with other officers on this topic." 
 
 In a statement about the settlement, Hastings city manager Jeff Mansfield said the lawsuit did not have merit. ||||| GRAND RAPIDS, MI - A Hastings police sergeant who says he was ridiculed at the police station after a genetic test showed he was part black settled his lawsuit against the city and top officials. 
 
 Cleon Brown will receive $65,000 from the city's insurer. 
 
 He will be on paid administrative leave until Oct. 31, when he will resign, unless he obtains full-time employment before that, according to an agreement obtained by MLive and The Grand Rapids Press in a Freedom of Information request. 
 
 Brown said he was subjected to racial taunts after an Ancestry.com test showed that his race and national origin was 18 to 33 percent "sub-Saharan African." 
 
 At Christmas, someone hung a black Santa Clause figurine with "18%" written on its white beard. It was put in Brown's stocking. 
 
 He said other officers whispered, "Black Lives Matters," and pumped their fists, while the police chief called him, "Kunte," a character in Alex Haley's novel, "Roots: The Saga of an American Family." 
 
 The city said police Chief Jeff Pratt ordered racial comments to end. Brown started his own trouble by joking about results of the DNA test that he said showed he was "18-percent African American," the city said. 
 
 The city said "African American" isn't a possible test result. 
 
 White cop sues city, chief for racism: Ancestry.com says he's part black 
 
 It also said that Ancestry.com does not provide information on race, and that Brown is not part of a protected class. 
 
 "If plaintiff is allowed to be included as the member of a protected class because of the self-reported results of a commercial ancestry test, then the courts will be in the business of 'certifying bloodlines and races,'" Hastings' attorney, Michael Bogren wrote, citing previous case law. 
 
 "Ancestry.com's website also states that the test results do not definitively reveal where a person's ancestors actually originated; only that there are shared characteristics in genes, which might or might not indicate a person's ancestors are actually from that geographic area," the city said. 
 
 Brown alleged state and federal civil-rights violations and violation of the state's Whistleblowers' Protection Act. He said he was victim of intentional infliction of emotional distress. 
 
 He served seven years in the U.S. Army and was 30-percent combat disabled. He joined Hastings Police Department in 1998, and was a "decorated" police sergeant, earning two life-saving awards, his attorney, Karie Boylan, said in court records. 
 
 She said the stress affected his health and ability to work. 
 
 She said officers turned their back on her client after he filed a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. 
 
 "Based on the openly hostile, retaliatory behaviors displayed by the Defendants (the City Manager, Police Chief, the Deputy Chief, one of four sergeants, and one of seven Officers), and tacit approval of Defendant's conduct by many other Hastings officers, it is more likely than not, Plaintiff will not have adequate back up in the event of an emergency," Boylan wrote. 
 
 The Hastings City Council on July 23 approved a mediated settlement. The lawsuit was filed in May 2017 in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids. 
 
 The settlement said that neither side is considered the prevailing party. 
 
 City Manager Jeff Mansfield released a statement on the city's behalf: "Suffice it to say that the process to resolve these matters is less than perfect, so the outcome of the process is less than ideal. But the City Council agreed that entering into this mediated settlement agreement would allow the City to focus its efforts and resources on more productive endeavors in the days ahead." 
 
 Boylan, the officer's attorney, said her client felt "bullied" by the city and could not afford to continue litigation. 
 
 She said he and his wife want to put the ordeal behind them, so he can find another job. He could still work in law enforcement but not in Hastings. 
 
 She said her client was known as a "good cop" who was "well-liked and respected" by other officers. 
 
 "The department ruined his life." ||||| HASTINGS, Mich. - A Hastings police officer has filed a lawsuit after he says he was discriminated against when he found out he was 18 percent African. 
 
 Sgt. Cleon Brown has served 19 years on the Hastings police force. He claims that when he found out from a DNA registry that he was part African, he started being treated differently at work. 
 
 “It was almost a disgraced reaction I got from them like, 'Why are you proud of this type of thing,'” Brown said. 
 
 He first filed an EEO complaint, but he said things only got worse after that. 
 
 The lawsuit alleges that the police chief, former mayor, city manager and deputy chief discriminated against him. 
 
 According to Brown’s attorney, the chief called him a name in reference to a slave from a book in front of other people. 
 
 The lawsuit also claims that a stocking with a black Santa and "18 percent" was on the department’s Christmas tree. 
 
 “I call it straight-up racism,” Brown said. 
 
 The city said Brown made jokes himself about being part black. 
 
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– A white Michigan police officer who accused fellow cops of "straight-up racism" will receive a $65,000 settlement, though he's not exactly pleased. Sgt. Cleon Brown, a 19-year veteran with the Hastings Police Department, initially demanded $500,000 from the city in a lawsuit claiming he was subject to taunts beginning in 2016 when a genetic test revealed he was 18% to 33% "sub-Saharan African," reports MLive. The suit claimed his police chief referred to Brown as "Kunta," an African slave character from Alex Haley's Roots: The Saga of an American Family. Other officers stopped talking to Brown, or would whisper "Black Lives Matter" and pump their fists in his presence, while a black Santa head with "18%" written on its beard appeared in Brown's Christmas stocking, according to the suit. "It was almost like a disgraced type of reaction that I got from them like, 'Why are you proud of this type of thing?'" the US Army veteran told WDIV when the suit was filed last May. The city disputed his account at the time, arguing Brown "specifically went to other officers, raised the topic [of his DNA test], joked about it, and engaged in typical racial stereotypes," reports CNN. Per WWMT, the city's manager now says it viewed the lawsuit as without merit but found the settlement was more favorable than "the cost and disruptive effect of defending the case." Brown's lawyer says his client is disappointed with the outcome—which allows him to remain on paid administrative leave until the end of October, when he'll resign—but couldn't afford to continue litigation. Per CNN, he plans to leave the city to find work.