HOBOKEN - The city's deputy director of emergency management has filed a lawsuit accusing Public Safety Director Bill Bergin of discriminating against him because he is Hispanic.
Both Bergin and Mayor David Roberts are named in the suit, filed this week by Joel Mestre, who alleges that Bergin called him derogatory names and gave away his job duties to whites.
Mestre also claims in the suit that Bergin once said to him: "Just because I don't eat rice and beans and don't agree that they should be sold at every store, that doesn't make me a racist."
Bergin called Mestre's accusations "lies."