Frazier v. Harris, 03-3007.
| Decision Date | 10 June 2003 |
| Docket Number | No. 03-3007.,03-3007. |
| Citation | 266 F.Supp.2d 853 |
| Parties | Renatta L. FRAZIER, et al. Plaintiffs, v. John W. HARRIS, et al. Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Central District of Illinois |
A. Courtney Cox, Hart & Hart, Benton, IL, for Plaintiffs.
Frank Martinez, Robert M. Rogers, Office of Corporation Counsel, Bradley B. Wilson, Gates, Wise & Schlosser, P.C., Springfield, IL, for Defendants.
This matter comes before the Court on the Defendants' Motion to Dismiss. The Plaintiffs Renatta Frazier, Rickey B. Davis, Ralph L. Harris (Officer Harris), Donald F. Ewing, Jr., Melody E. Holman, Lea L. Joy, Cleo Moore, Larry Stelivan and Robert Williams are African-Americans. They are current or former police officers with the City of Springfield, Illinois, Police Department (Department). The Defendants are the City of Springfield, Illinois (City), Springfield Police Chief John W. Harris (Chief Harris), former Mayor Karen Hasara, Assistant Police Chief William Pittman, Assistant Police Chief Mary L. Vasconcelles, Police Lieutenant Mark Harms, and Police Legal Adviser William G. Workman. The Plaintiffs claim that the Defendants committed a series of acts of racial discrimination and retaliation, all of which violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e (Title VII); and 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1983, 1985 and 1986. Plaintiff Frazier also alleges that the Defendants committed other state law torts against her. The Plaintiffs have brought this action against the individual Defendants in both their individual and official capacities. The Defendants ask this Court to dismiss the Complaint for failure to state a claim. For the reasons set forth below, the Motion is allowed in part and denied in part.
For purposes of this Motion, the Court must accept as true all well-pleaded factual allegations contained in the Complaint and draw all inferences in the light most favorable to the Plaintiffs. Hager v. City of West Peoria, 84 F.3d 865, 868-69 (7th Cir. 1996); Covington Court, Ltd. v. Village of Oak Brook, 77 F.3d 177, 178 (7th Cir.1996). A claim should not be dismissed unless it appears beyond doubt that a plaintiff can prove no set of facts that would entitle him or her to relief. Doherty v. City of Chicago, 75 F.3d 318, 322 (7th Cir.1996).
Plaintiffs allege that the racial problems in the Department date back at least to the 1970's. At that time there were 25 African-American officers on a force of 150. By the time the Complaint was filed in January 2003, the Department had only 14 African-American officers on a force of 283. The percentage of African-American officers had dropped from 16 percent to slightly less than 5 percent. Plaintiffs allege that the Department has a practice of discriminating against African-Americans in hiring, promotion, discipline, and assignments. The Department now has no African-American: (1) sergeant; (2) drug enforcement agent; (3) undercover drug unit agent; (4) canine unit agent; (5) dispatch personnel; (6) police academy personnel; (7) SWAT Team personnel; (8) traffic unit personnel; or (9) gang unit personnel; and only one African-American detective. Each Plaintiff, except Williams, alleges specific acts to which he or she was subjected.1 The allegations, which are presumed to be true for this discussion, are set forth below.
Larry Stelivan joined the Department in 1978. Stelivan was assigned to the traffic section for 10 years. He was then transferred to the operations section. At that time, he was assigned to ride with Defendant Pittman. Pittman was then a Field Training Officer. Pittman complained about Stelivan's report writing and caused him to go to report writing school. The instructor informed Stelivan that he did not need to go to report writing classes.
In 1998, Stelivan was involved in a disturbance at his home with his wife. Caucasian officers came to his home. Stelivan told the officers that his wife would probably say that he hit her, but he did not. Stelivan's wife told officers that nothing happened. The officers arrested Stelivan anyway because one officer said, "He said he hit her so arrest him." Complaint 1126.c.2 His wife had to sign a statement at the Sangamon County, Illinois, State Attorney's Office stating that Stelivan did not hit her before the charges were dropped.
At some point, Stelivan's son became sick and needed a kidney transplant. Defendant Pittman told Stelivan that if he gave his son a kidney, Pittman would do everything he could to get Stelivan kicked out of the police pension system. Pittman was in charge of the Department's pension board at the time. Caucasian officers with one kidney were not removed from the police pension system. Stelivan does not allege that Pittman did anything to remove him from the pension system.
Officer Harris also began working for the Springfield Police Department in 1978. Officer Harris was a principal organizer of the Black Guardians Association (BGA), a local chapter of the National Black Police Association. Officer Harris is a spokesman for equal treatment of African-American officers and applicants. He is the spokesperson for the BGA and was elected its president in 2001. He has spoken to officials of the United States Department of Justice regarding racial discrimination and retaliation toward African-American police officers by members of the Department, including Chief Harris. He has also complained about the Department's refusal to provide backup to African-American officers when problems arise while such officers are working at off-duty jobs. The Department provides such assistance to Caucasian officers who work off-duty jobs.
In the two years prior to filing the Complaint, Officer Harris has been the subject of numerous false disciplinary complaints. More complaints were filed against him in the last two years than were filed against him in the previous twenty. In October 2001, Officer Harris was written up for allegedly misusing sick leave. On June 18, 2002, he was informed of another complaint filed against him alleging misuse of sick time. Officer Harris was also charged with violating a Department rule against lying. These charges were false and were filed in retaliation for his opposition to racial discrimination. Caucasian officers who were found to have lied to secure a warrant have not been subjected to discipline.
As a consequence of Officer Harris' advocacy for African-American officers, he has been continually passed over for promotion to the position of sergeant, while less experienced and less qualified Caucasian officers have been promoted ahead of him.
Plaintiff Donald Ewing joined the force in 1979. Ewing alleges that he has been treated differently than Caucasian officers with respect to the disciplinary process. Ewing was written up and suspended for a day because he was involved in a minor accident. Caucasian officers in similar situations either were not disciplined or were disciplined less harshly.
Ewing applied for the Detective Division on three occasions. Caucasians were selected for these positions based on biased and highly subjective interview processes. These officers who received the assignments had less time or experience than Ewing. In fact, Ewing trained many of them.
Ewing also applied and tested for the sergeant position. Ewing always scored low on the exam due to the Department's testing procedures. Chief Harris gave study materials for the tests to Caucasian officers, but gave no such materials to African-American officers. When African-American officers were placed on the sergeant list, Chief Harris allowed the list to expire before appointing any African-American officers to the rank of sergeant.
Ewing and some other African-American officers worked off-duty at an establishment called Mac's Lounge. These offduty officers were not given backup from the Department when problems arose. Plaintiff Joy was told by Caucasian sergeants and lieutenants not to provide assistance to officers working off-duty at Mac's Lounge. Caucasian officers in similar situations were given backup at other off-duty jobs.
Ewing opposed racial discrimination by Caucasian officers. He complained once that an officer, named Don Kolar, became physically aggressive toward an African-American prisoner. He also complained that Caucasian officers wore thin black leather gloves in African-American neighborhoods. These gloves were very intimidating to African-American citizens. When African-American officers expressed concerns about racial matters to Chief Harris, his response was, "I don't know why you all work there, you shouldn't want to put yourself in a position that you don't want to be in." Complaint II 23.g. At another meeting regarding racial problems in the Department, Chief Harris threatened Ewing that the City would take his house. At the time Ewing was a Community Policing Officer; the City provided such officers with housing in the neighborhood to which they were assigned.
Ewing was appointed Neighborhood Police Officer for Springfield's east side area, an African-American neighborhood. Caucasian officers who previously held his position were given advance assistance to help them succeed in the position. Ewing was given no such assistance. Pittman told Ewing, "We know you will be the first one to fail at this position." Complaint f 23.j. Ewing was also given more geographical area to cover than the prior Caucasian officers. Ewing succeeded at the position even without the typical assistance that Caucasian officers received.
Ewing at one point requested to be placed on a particular beat as his regular assignment. His request was denied; instead a Caucasian officer with less than one year of service was placed in that assignment.
Rickey Davis has been an officer for the Department since 1981. He has...
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