Editor's note: A previous version of this story stated that Hardister is a former firefighter. He is still a firefighter.
INDIANAPOLIS -- A Indianapolis firefighter has filed a lawsuit against IFD claiming racial discrimination.
Jason Hardister has served on the Indianapolis Fire Department for 11 years. He claims in a lawsuit that the city and the department discriminated against him for being black, and also that a co-worker fabricated criminal allegations against him.
According to the lawsuit, Hardister's problems started while serving in the IFD-IMPD Joint Fire Investigative Unit. He claims his superiors there harassed and retaliated against him for being black.
The lawsuit says his supervisors created a series of events that ended up starting an internal affairs investigation and resulted in a demotion from the unit – even though the allegations were unfounded.
During the investigation, the internal affairs officers told Hardister that "is appears you were set up," according to the lawsuit.
The suit claims IFD violated Title IX of the Civil Rights Act.
The Indianapolis Fire Department said Tuesday it hadn't been notified of the lawsuit.
READ THE FULL LAWSUIT BELOW:
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