ANNISTON, Ala. (CN) - A police officer was
fired for talking to the media about corruption in the department, including
officers pulling over a mail truck and destroying mail to cover up an arrest,
the officer claims in court.
Jason White sued the City of Athens, Mayor
William Marks, Police Chief Floyd Johnson, ex-Police Chief Reed Wayne Harper,
and police Officers Tracy Harrison and Trevor Harris, in Federal Court.
White began working for Athens as a police
officer in April 1999, and rose to the rank of sergeant and lead investigator
within a few years. He supervised several officers and was lead investigator in
more than 1,500 cases, according to the complaint.
White says his downfall came from talking
to a newspaper reporter about "unsavory secrets" he had learned about
police employees during his work as an investigator.
"It was widely reported in the summer
of 2009 that defendant Tracy Harrison, who was then a Captain in the Athens
Police Department, had covered up a DUI arrest made by the department,"
the complaint states.
"After receiving a phone call from a
DUI arrestee's attorney, defendant Harrison deleted police department records,
logs, and notices to the state of the DUI arrest, including what is referred to
as an 'AST60 mail log.'
"In order to stop the eventual
prosecution of the DUI, defendant Harrison, accompanied by then-Lt. Pressnell,
used a police vehicle to pull over an on-duty postal worker driving a U.S. Mail
vehicle.
"After stopping the mail truck,
defendant Harrison intercepted, retrieved, and destroyed important
documentation about the DUI arrest before it arrived at the Alabama Department
of Public Safety.
"Defendant Harrison then requested
that Officer Jason Threet not swear to the arrest.
"Thereafter, Jason Threet was the
next officer promoted to sergeant."
Pressnell and Threet are not parties to
the lawsuit.
An anonymous complaint about the cover-up
of the DUI arrest triggered an attorney general investigation of Harrison and
the department, according to the lawsuit.
White says that during the investigation
he spoke with a Decatur Daily reporter about the DUI arrest scandal and about
another incident in the department.
Sometime after the investigation began,
White claims, he met with Mayor William Marks, then the Athens Council
president, and told him corruption in the police department was a serious
problem.
"During that meeting, defendant Marks
responded to Plaintiff: 'I don't feel as sorry for the person who called the
AG's Office as I do for whoever called the media,'" the complaint states.
"'That person is looking at serious trouble.'"
Two weeks later, then-Chief Harper began
to interview all of the investigators in the department, to find out who had
reported Harrison to the attorney general and the media, according to the
lawsuit.
White says that during his interrogation
by the defendants he voiced his support for the reporting of the Harrison
incident to the attorney general's office.
He claims Harper immediately removed him
from his supervisory position over the department's Honor Guard, which White
had formed in 2004.
In January 2011, the department
transferred White out of the investigations division, assigning him as a patrol
sergeant on the day shift, although Harper confirmed that White's performance
had been satisfactory, according to the complaint.
Later that year, White claims, the
department began a disciplinary investigation against him, after his ex-wife
reported that he had used his status as a police officer against her during
divorce proceedings.
He claims the defendants asked his ex-wife
about his involvement with the Harrison scandal and the newspaper reporter, and
retaliated by opening the investigation.
Although Harper told White that his
ex-wife's allegations had little merit, the department fired White in May 2012,
according to the complaint.
The department claimed White could not
perform his duties as a police officer because his access to the National Crime
Information Center system had been suspended after the investigation.
But White says the department was
retaliating for his protected speech.
The department never investigated or fired
officers who were accused of running tags for non-law enforcement purposes,
White claims. And he says it failed to fire officers who had committed much
more serious offenses than White's alleged misconduct, such as having sex with
prostitutes in custody and doubling hours on their time sheet.
White seeks an injunction, reinstatement
and punitive damages for First Amendment retaliation.
He is represented by John Saxon of
Birmingham.
Mayor Marks declined comment on the
lawsuit. The Athens Police Department did not respond to a request for
comment.
