A former Warren police officer was awarded more than $500,000 by a federal jury in a civil rights lawsuit in which she alleged racial and sexual mistreatment from coworkers during her time on the force.

DeSheila Howlett is to recover $525,000 from the city of Warren and $50,000 in punitive damages from one individual defendant, according to federal court records. She's to receive $502,000 in back pay damages, $3,000 in past and future medical-related damages and $20,000 in past and future noneconomic damages, according to the verdict form.

Jurors ruled in favor of the city and two remaining individual defendants on Howlett’s claims brought, in part, under Title VII of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964, according to court records.

Howlett’s attorney, Leonard Mungo, said this is a "huge victory, not monetarily, but in the fight against injustice and the fight against institutionalized racism."

He said they have proven there was custom, policy and practice to discriminate against African Americans, and "we have been successful at sending a message. ... I think it's a moment whose time has come."

Mungo said Howlett is "entitled to millions" and they plan to appeal the monetary damages to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.

"While we have this victory in regard to proving the city of Warren harbored an institutionalized racist bastion of civil rights violators based on race ... which is a huge victory, she's not gotten her entitlement to the damages she has suffered."

Raechel Badalamenti, an attorney representing the city and the other defendants, said in a statement that “the jury saw through” Howlett’s claim for $14 million, which was filed in 2017, to "conclude that the Warren Police Department was and is a great place to work."

Badalamenti said after six years in court, “all but one of the twelve claims asserted were dismissed and all the coworkers she sued have been vindicated.”

Badalamenti said, as to training, the verdict “reflects that the City has already increased its training protocol as part of the high honor (Police) Commissioner (Bill) Dwyer achieved in 2020 when WPD became the largest municipal police department in Michigan to gain state accreditation."

“While we would have liked to see Plaintiff get zero, the jury was sympathetic to how long the judicial process took largely due to Covid limitations on jury Trials. The City is very pleased with the outcome.”

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Howlett started working as a Warren police officer in 2006. She filed her lawsuit in April 2017, naming the city, the former police commissioner and fellow officers as defendants.

In her complaint, she said she was the first Black police officer to be employed in the history of Warren and was "constantly peppered with inappropriate, insulting, demeaning, racially stereotypical, offensive comments, jokes, statements, conversations, and other conduct by her similarly-situated white police officers including, but not limited to, supervisors."

Howlett alleged she was repeatedly not supported with proper backup in a timely fashion during work because of her race and gender. She said she became ill and was unable to continue working "in the toxic environment."

Mungo previously said a lack of training in diversity led to Howlett's constitutional rights being violated.

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Jurors found the city failed to train its officers and employees in a manner that violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, causing Howlett to be subjected to discrimination based on her race or being a female, according to the verdict form.

They also found one of the defendants intentionally discriminated against Howlett based on her race or sex between April 21, 2014, and April 21, 2017, according to the form.

Contact Christina Hall: chall@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter: @challreporter.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Former Warren police officer to get $500K+ in federal lawsuit