Missouri police officer Keith Wildhaber will receive a $10.25 million settlement and was promoted after he was told to ‘tone down your gayness.’ (Picture: AP)

A police officer told ‘tone down your gayness’ was promoted and will receive a settlement of over $10 million.

Keith Wildhaber, who works for St Louis Police Department in Missouri, won the massive $10.25 million settlement in a sexual orientation lawsuit after a member of police commission board made the homophobic remark.

The settlement was announced just hours after St Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said he plans to retire.

‘I think it’s really important for those of us in St Louis County to recognize this is a tough time for the county, but we have to recognize that discrimination isn’t right,’ St Louis County Executive Sam Page said on Monday.




‘By settling this lawsuit, the county recognizes that what Lt Wildhaber went though was not right.’

Wildhaber will receive more than $6.4 million and his lawyers will get approximately $3.8 million, according to the settlement papers filed on Tuesday.

Before going to trial last year, Wildhaber and his attorney’s offered to settle the dispute for $850,000 and an immediate promotion of Wildhaber to lieutenant, according to ABC News.

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However, Steve Stenger, the previous St Louis County Executive, ignored the offer. He was later convicted of bribery, mail fraud and depriving citizens of honest services of a public official in an unrelated case.

After a jury decided Wildhaber’s case in October, Belmar promoted him to Lieutenant and created the department’s Diversity and Inclusion Unit, which he put Wildhaber in charge of.

Wildhaber’s lawsuit states he was conducting a security check on a restaurant owned by John Saracina, a member of the St Louis County Board of Police Commissioners, in 2014.

Keith Wildhaber said he was passed over for a promotion 23 times before filing the lawsuit. (Picture: KMOV)

Saracino told Wilhaber that the police command staff ‘has a problem with your sexuality’ and continued to tell him that if he wanted a promotion, ‘you should tone down your gayness,’ according to the lawsuit filed in January 2017.

According to the lawsuit, Wildhaber was passed over for a promotion multiple times despite having a ‘clean disciplinary history’ and ‘a strong resume for being promoted.’

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Saracino denied making the comments Wildhaber accused him of.

The county now must pay Wildhaber and his attorney’s $7 million within 60 days and the rest of the settlement by January 31, 2021.