NEWARK — A nearly 30-year member of the Newark Fire Department claims in a new lawsuit that he suffered racial discrimination as well as retaliation for reporting alleged misconduct by the city’s fire director.

As part of that harassment, Ramon Irizarry, currently an arson investigator, alleges city officials created a public safety risk by denying him a service weapon.

“It’s not only discriminatory. It’s downright dangerous,” said Edward Nolan, an attorney representing Irizarry in the lawsuit he filed on Aug. 25 in New Jersey Superior Court against Newark and Fire Director James Stewart.

“If he’s in a situation where he needs his gun, it could not only jeopardize his own health, but his co-workers and members of the public,” Nolan said.

The lawsuit suggests the harassment was in retaliation for Irizarry reporting to authorities that Stewart “sought to provide a firearm to a former arson investigator who was not allowed to be armed and sent unqualified and politically-connected candidates to the Newark Fire Academy.”

Newark officials declined to comment, and Stewart could not be reached for comment. Stewart has previously been ensnared in separate state and county investigations.

A Fair Lawn…

Attorneys for the authority and for University of Pittsburgh research specialist Debra J. Stemmler filed a stipulation of dismissal, indicating that the lawsuit had been settled. U.S. District Judge Nora Barry Fischer then closed the case.

Terms of the settlement were not indicated in the court filings. According to the stipulation for dismissal, Judge Fischer retains jurisdiction to interpret and enforce the settlement.

Authority attorney Brian H. Simmons wrote in an email response to questions that the authority would not incur any costs related to lowering the meters, and that the work would be done by the end of July 2015.

Authority Executive Director David Onorato would not further detail the settlement.

Jeff Nethery, director of business development for Cale America, the company that was awarded a $7 million contract in 2012 to install and maintain hundreds of the multi-space pay stations, said last week that his firm would adjust the meters. He could not be reached for details Tuesday.

Ms. Stemmler, who works for Pitt’s Graduate School of Public Health, claimed in the lawsuit that she was ticketed a year ago despite leaving a note on her dashboard indicating that she could not reach the buttons on the new meters. She…

The Los Angeles Times reported that one claimant, Dewayne Matthews Jr., said he was standing with his hands in the air, in surrender mode, when police officers wearing riot gear riddled him with rubber bullets and slammed him into the concrete. He alleged police also sprayed him with some sort of chemical spray, despite the fact he wasn’t engaging in any aggressive or violent manner.

Another plaintiff, Tracey White, says she and her son, 13, were waiting to exit McDonald’s at the time police stormed into the restaurants and arrested them without cause, she alleged, the Los Angeles Times reported.

A couple of other plaintiffs say they were simply joining in the chant of “hands up, don’t shoot,” when riot police shot rubber bullets at them and fired tear gas and stun grenades. The men, Damon Coleman and Theophilus Green, also allege police used racial slurs, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The six say the police humiliated them and abused their civil rights, and their lawsuit seeks millions in damages.

The protests in Ferguson kicked off when Darren Wilson, a local police officer, shot and killed Michael Brown, 18….