Berwyn school district board member, city employee who admitted using racial slur fired

By Web Staff

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    BERWYN, Illinois (WLS) — A Berwyn city employee who admitted to police she used a racial slur against a man has been fired.

According to a post on the city of Berwyn’s blog, Sarah Lopez, who used to work as “Blight Inspector,” has been terminated.

Contractor Phil Robbin has said he still can’t believe what he said happened in a Berwyn alley two months ago.

“I feel like I’m this big every day I’m walking around, and I’m a pretty big guy to be feeling like this,” Robbin said.

Robbin said he was parked in that alley while on a job removing a tree from a customer’s yard when a woman, whom he later learned was Berwyn school board member Lopez, rolled up in a marked city vehicle and ordered him to move his truck.

Robbin said he objected, telling her he had a permit to park in the alley.

“She was screaming at the top of her lungs, ‘You don’t know who you’re F-ing with! I’m calling the police!’ And I said, ‘Feel free,'” Robbin recalled. “When I turned my back, it went haywire from then. N-word, N-word, N-word, N-word, N-word.”

According to a police report, Lopez told a responding officer she did call Robbin the “N” word and then said, “I am so sick and tired of these people!”

The report said Lopez also told police she worked as a “Blight Inspector” for the Berwyn buildings department and had “…received multiple calls” about Robbin’s truck blocking the alley.

She later acknowledged that “there were no calls.”

“Nobody should be able to work for the city, of any city, and be able to carry around that authority to use towards anyone,” Robbin said.

Berwyn South School District 100 said Lopez has since resigned from the board, saying her alleged “conduct does not reflect the beliefs of the Board of Education.”

Lopez has not commented publicly on the incident.

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