So controversial Boston Police officer Justin Barrett, who’s facing disciplinary action over a racially charged e-mail he wrote about Crimsongate, has sued the city of Boston in US District Court. “According to the lawsuit,” the Boston Globe notes, Boston Police commissioner Ed Davis’ suspension of Barrett “caused [the officer] pain and suffering, mental anguish, emotional distress, posttraumatic stress, sleeplessness, indignities and embarrassment, degradation, injury to reputation, and restrictions on personal freedom.”

Why do I get the sense that this lawsuit won’t go anywhere? And why do I get the feeling that this is some kind of publicity stunt?

Boy, what a weird summer.

The Boston Phoenix reports that last December, the city of Boston paid $3.8 million dollars to a plaintiff who sued the city alleging that misconduct by the Boston Police Department resulted in his wrongful incarceration. This brings to $10 million the amount that Boston has paid to wrongfully convicted plaintiffs. This suggests that Boston Mayor Thomas Menino has failed to address certain problems affecting the Boston Police Department–problems highlighted by the Phoenix over the past few years. Will Menino’s opponents in the 2009 mayoral race make an issue of the problems affecting the Boston Police Department? If the allegedly invulnerable Menino has one weakness, it would be this issue, no?