DOCUMENT: Crime

Coopertown Mayor's City Hall Of Shame

State: Tennessee pol used slurs, targeted soldiers in ticket blitz

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Coopertown Mayor's City Hall Of Shame

JUNE 28--A Tennessee mayor spewed racial slurs, attempted to set up foes for arrest, and tried to boost his town's traffic ticket revenue by specifically profiling soldiers and Hispanics, according to a lawsuit seeking the politician's ouster from office.

In a complaint filed yesterday in Robertson County Chancery Court, the State of Tennessee portrays Coopertown Mayor Danny Crosby as a boorish nutcase who has soiled the reputation of the 3176-resident city, which is located about 25 miles north of Nashville.

The state lawsuit, an excerpt of which you'll find here, includes an array of shocking charges, including the claim that, after swearing in a new police officer on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the mayor congratulated the cop by saying, "Happy James Earl Ray Day."

Crosby, pictured at left, also allegedly sought to boost his city's revenue by setting up speed traps and directing police to "engage in profiling soldiers of the United States Armed Services" since he believed that enlisted persons "would tend to mail in their fines rather to come to Court to contest the Citations."

Crosby also thought Hispanics, who were "mostly illegal anyway," would also avoid court, the complaint charges. As such, Crosby encouraged giving multiple citations to Hispanics, remarking, "We can give them all the tickets we want."

Crosby was elected mayor in November 2004. (9 pages)