By Jane Harper
The Virginian-Pilot
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A jury last week ordered the city of Virginia Beach to pay $137,000 in damages to a Black police officer who claimed department leaders retaliated against him after he tried to assist a Black recruit who believed she was the victim of discrimination.
Michael Banks, the longest serving Black officer with the Virginia Beach Police Department, filed his lawsuit last year in U.S. District Court in Norfolk. The trial began Tuesday and ended Friday with the jury issuing its verdict after several hours of deliberations, according to court records. The panel said it was deadlocked, but came back later with a decision after Judge Raymond A. Jackson told them to keep trying, the records showed.
“The city respectfully disagrees with the jury’s verdict and stands behind the police department’s right to hold police officers accountable when necessary,” City Attorney Mark Stiles said in a statement released Tuesday.
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Banks’ attorney, Stephen Teague, applauded the verdict.
“The system has worked and we are grateful for a fair outcome, finally,” he said in a message to The Virginian-Pilot. “Justice has been served, and now corrective actions are in order.”
The circumstances leading to Banks’ lawsuit began in June 2021 when a Black police lieutenant asked Banks if he’d be willing to speak with a Black probationary officer who was concerned she wasn’t getting the same training support as her white peers. Banks, who joined the department in 1997, was a sergeant in the Internal Affairs department at the time and had often served as an informal mentor to minority recruits.
Banks said he reached out twice to a training supervisor about the recruit’s concerns, but the conversations were cut short. He then contacted the recruit’s training officer, who is Black. While Banks claims he made it clear he wasn’t acting in an official capacity, the training officer said he felt he was being pressured into passing the recruit and filed a complaint with internal affairs.
An investigation began and Banks was moved out of internal affairs. He also lost access to police headquarters and many of his privileges were taken away. In response, Banks sought multiple meetings with department leaders, and filed complaints with the city’s human resources department and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, in which he alleged he’d been subjected to a hostile work environment due to race and retaliation.
When the internal affairs investigation concluded, the captain’s board recommended Banks be fired. Police Chief Paul Neudigate, however, overruled the decision. He instead chose to demote Banks to master police officer, resulting in a $10,000 pay cut.
Assistant City Attorney Christopher Turpin told jurors during his closing arguments the investigation and punishment had nothing to do with race and retaliation.
“It’s about an employee being held accountable for workplace misdeeds,” he said.
Turpin said it was wrong for Banks to contact the recruit’s lower ranking training officer, then criticize him for being too harsh on the recruit, and make him feel that he needed to pass her. Banks also acted inappropriately when he went to the internal affairs office in the middle of the night and accessed the investigation file into the recruit after being ordered not to look at it, the lawyer said. Banks said he often worked long hours and that’s why he was there.
Teague argued that many of the department’s actions show that investigation into Banks was suspect, including that it lasted 276 days when they’re not supposed to last more than 45. No explanation for the delay was ever filed, which is required, he said. Also, transcripts of the investigation’s proceedings were provided to three other involved officers within a coupe of days, while Banks had to wait 76 for his, Teague said.
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