City to settle with man who claims he was not hired by APD because of HIV status

A man who claimed he was not hired with the Atlanta Police Department because he was HIV-positive is on the verge of getting $250,000 from the city in a settlement. On Tuesday, the public safety committee approved the settlement amount, which now goes to the full council next week.

In 2006, the man, using the pseudonym Richard Roe, moved to Atlanta from Los Angeles, where he was an investigator. He took a position in APD’s taxicab division, before applying to become an officer. He passed the written test, a psychological exam, a computerized voice stress analysis test and a background check.

But a pre-employment physical exam showed he was HIV positive, a condition he had lived with since 1997. A doctor told Roe that he would be advising the city that he “could not be employed in a position in which he had any contact with the public.”