Embattled Kaua'i Police Chief K.C. Lum yesterday sued the mayor and other county officials, accusing them of racial discrimination and a conspiracy to violate Lum's civil rights.

The federal court lawsuit, which seeks $1.2 million in damages, said Lum was the subject of a racial slur, and that county officials retaliated against Lum and sought to undermine his authority when he complained about the slur.

The lawsuit also asks that the court bar the county from further "retaliatory actions." Lum's attorney, Clayton Ikei, yesterday said the lawsuit was in part an attempt to block Mayor Bryan Baptiste's effort to have Lum fired.

The lawsuit was filed in response to the county's handling of an October 2004 incident during which Kaua'i police commissioner Leon Gonsalves referred to Lum, who is of Chinese ancestry, in an e-mail as "Hop Sing." (Hop Sing was a Chinese cook on the long-running TV series "Bonanza" in the 1960s and '70s.) Gonsalves also wrote he would "throw up" if he attended Lum's swearing-in ceremony.

Lum filed a complaint with the Hawai'i Civil Rights Commission in April 2005. Gonsalves refused a request from Baptiste that he step down from the police commission.

"(The racial slur) was very demeaning to me at that time. If I do that to one of our employees, I would be fired for cause," Lum said at a news conference in Honolulu yesterday. "Retaliation by the County Council has created a hostile work environment for me as police chief."

Kaua'i County Attorney Lani Nakazawa yesterday said she had not been served with the complaint and declined comment.

The complaint asks for injunctions to prohibit "illegal retaliatory actions" against Lum, $200,000 in damages from Gonsalves, and $1 million collectively from Baptiste, the County Council and Kaua'i County.

Lum's lawsuit is the latest development in a long-running saga of alleged mismanagement, corruption and infighting at the Kaua'i Police Department.

The mayor and the State of Hawai'i Organization of Police Officers have called for Lum's ouster. Lum's supporters and detractors agree that the Kaua'i Police Department is deeply fragmented and needs help. Lum's 16 months in office have been marked by an increased number of union grievances, cost overruns and political intervention.

Allegations of corruption have prompted a more than yearlong investigation by the FBI.

Lum argues that many of the department's problems are caused by disgruntled officers, with political connections, who have been trying to remove him. He says he is trying to reform a department dominated by an "entrenched old guard."

Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.