L.A. settles suit with police sergeant who alleged retaliation for speaking up about racism
Los Angeles will pay $500,000 to settle a lawsuit by a police sergeant who alleged that he suffered retaliation after speaking up about racism in the Los Angeles Police Department.
It is the second time that the city has approved a monetary settlement to resolve a lawsuit brought by Sgt. Wayne Guillary over claims of discrimination in the department. After settling an earlier case a decade and a half ago, Guillary “continued his career, thinking the racism he experienced in the past was behind him,” his lawsuit stated.
Instead, Guillary said he was again subjected to harassment and discrimination after standing up for his rights, speaking out publicly about race issues, and reporting misconduct in the department. For instance, Guillary said, three years ago he was berated by his captain after informing him of a car accident that sent another officer to the hospital — a “strong overreaction” that stemmed from Guillary “speaking publically and internally about race issues within the department,” his lawsuit alleged.
Guillary said he later spoke up in front of the Police Commission about “ghost cars” — police logging into the computers on their squad cars to falsely make it appear they were on patrol. He also publicly criticized Chief Charlie Beck after he decided not to fire a white officer who had uttered a racial slur outside a bar, according to the lawsuit.
Guillary said that months later, he was disciplined for failing to report an officer-involved shooting incident that he had in fact reported. It was the first time that he had gotten such a notice in his 34-year career with the department, his lawsuit said.
The sergeant also alleged that he suffered further retaliation when he was told that he could no longer be a watch commander. Guillary said he was told that he could no longer go into the field or sign reports because of a long-standing medical condition, even though the disorder had never before led to any restrictions. As a result, he ended up being “supervised by his subordinates,” the lawsuit said.
The Los Angeles City Council approved the payout Wednesday in an 11-0 vote, with council members Joe Buscaino, Gil Cedillo, Paul Koretz and Nury Martinez absent. An LAPD spokesman said the department was unable to speak about the settlement.
In his latest complaint, Guillary said the previous lawsuit stemmed from objections he raised about internal recruiting documents, which used a racial slur to state that the department was hiring too many African Americans and “mud ducks.” When he complained, Guillary said he was told that he “supervised too black” and was demoted, according to the recent suit. The City Council agreed to a $300,000 payment in that earlier case, which was settled by 2001.
Guillary alluded to those past battles with the department in an open letter three years ago addressed to Christopher Dorner, the former officer who went on a deadly rampage against L.A. police and their families.
In his letter, posted on the website of Los Angeles Urban Policy Roundtable President Earl Ofari Hutchinson, Guillary urged Dorner to stop his attacks and surrender. He wrote that he himself had “been in the fight with the organization regarding social and racial injustice within the LAPD” and had “paid a humiliating price.”
“This is not the answer, nor is this the way to resolve conflict,” Guillary wrote to Dorner.
Follow me on Twitter at @LATimesEmily
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