Oakland Pays Out $2 Million For Officer Richard Valerga Sexually Harassing Asian American Women

Friday, July 11, 2008

While you couldn't be happier for the settlement which is awarding the 16 Asian American women $2 million dollars who were groped and sexually harassed by former police officer Richard Valerga in 2004 and 2005 (and who knows how many others that he harassed while he was in uniform) - this just should never have happened in the first place:

The city of Oakland is expected to pay out $2 million to settle a lawsuit by 16 women who said they were groped or sexually harassed by a police officer who pulled them over for no good reason [...]

In the suit, the women -- all Asian-American -- claimed that former Officer Richard Valerga pulled them over in 2004 or 2005 in Oakland's Fruitvale district, then would then touch or sexually harass them.

The city of Oakland had previously paid $190,000 to two other women to settle claims involving Valerga.
In every way possible, you have to just stop and pause, and be in complete awe of these exceptional Asian American women who stepped forward - because they didn't have too - because no one in their right mind would have blamed them if they wouldn't have come forward.

But they did.

And for that - because they did - every single one of us is better off because of it.