By Jacqueline Koch
Chattanooga Times Free Press
TENNESSEE — A former Chattanooga police officer is suing the city after being fired last fall, claiming he was discriminated against and suffered an unusually high level of scrutiny.
Jeff White, who is black, is seeking $750,000 for mental anguish and in punitive damages, as well as immediate reinstatement with back pay, according to the lawsuit.
Filed Monday by attorney Robin Flores, the lawsuit claims that Mr. White was fired to validate the scrutiny and racial discrimination he endured.
"(The city’s) claims that it terminated against plaintiff were a pretext to excuse or otherwise validate their unlawful actions against the defendant,” according to the suit. "(The city’s) acts and omissions ... were discriminatory acts based upon (Mr. White’s) race.”
Assistant City Attorney Phil Noblett, to whom the suit is addressed, did not return messages seeking comment Tuesday afternoon.
Mr. White was fired by police Chief Freeman Cooper after an internal affairs investigation revealed he failed to submit reports, did not handle a domestic violence call properly, worked extra jobs without permits, listed an incorrect home address and did not respond to calls in a timely manner, according to a Chattanooga Police Department internal affairs investigation report.
But it was untruthfulness, above all else, that led to the officer’s termination on Sept. 26, 2008, Deputy Chief Mark Rawlston told the Chattanooga Times Free Press at the time.
When questioned by investigators in three separate interviews, Mr. White told conflicting stories about where he lived and at what apartments he served as a police department courtesy officer, according to the internal affairs investigation.
Mr. White, then working as an officer in Brainerd, was asked to investigate reports that Brainerd High School principal Joshuah Barber was using force against students. Mr. White found no wrongdoing on the principal’s part and made various comments to the media about his findings at the direction of the police department, according to the suit.
After the investigation, Mr. White was moved to second shift in the same Brainerd area and was not given 14 days notice of the involuntary reassignment as required by the police department, according to the suit.
The lawsuit says another officer warned Mr. White that his supervisor on second shift was a “racist.” The lawsuit alleges that the supervisor and police department began a series of disciplinary investigations and actions against Mr. White for many infractions that included “underproductiveness” and “lying.”
The lawsuit states that Mr. White was the only black male officer assigned to his district and that the internal affairs investigation against him was handled differently than those for white officers. The department typically allowed under-performance issues to be handled by front- or second-line supervisors, according to the lawsuit.
Copyright 2009 Chattanooga Publishing Company