RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) – A federal judge has dismissed a claim by a former Rapid City police officer who said he suffered discrimination and harassment.

Rosebud Sioux Tribe member Glen Yellow Robe was a 22 1/2-year veteran of the police department when he was fired in May 2007. Yellow Robe was the department's alcohol compliance officer, and officials had warned him that his wife's purchase of a liquor store would pose a conflict of interest, the Rapid City Journal reported. He was fired when his wife was granted a liquor license.

Yellow Robe sued two years later, claiming age discrimination and saying he had endured years of racial discrimination and harassment. He sought back pay, unspecified damages for emotional distress as well as punitive damages. He was 52 when he filed the lawsuit.

The decision by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Viken noted that Yellow Robe heard officers make fun of or criticize Native Americans during daily briefings, but the judge also said that Yellow Robe participated in similar racially oriented banter.

“At no time during his employment with the police department did Mr. Yellow Robe ever go to an officer of authority and suggest he had been a victim of racial harassment,” Viken said. “By Mr. Yellow Robe's own admission, for years he was involved in racial antics in the police department.”

The judge also ruled that Yellow Robe's own testimony contradicted some of his assertions.

Yellow Robe's attorneys declined comment. City Attorney Joel Landeen said “hopefully, we can all move on now.”

Current Police Chief Steve Allender, who at one time worked with Yellow Robe and was named as a defendant in the lawsuit, said he was pleased with the ruling.

“I know in my heart the legal system works, but I have been disappointed as an individual as well as a city official by this whole experience,” Allender said. “It has been a burden on me and the other defendants as well as an undue financial burden on the taxpayers.”

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Information from: Rapid City Journal, http://www.rapidcityjournal.com