Axed Little Rock police officer's bias lawsuit now awaits judge's ruling

Former Little Rock Police Chief Stuart Thomas on Thursday defended his decision to fire a Little Rock police officer whose lawsuit against him and the city claims her 2013 termination was really an act of revenge for her complaints about how she was treated by senior officers.

Tiffany Malone said she was routinely harassed, sometimes sexually, by her supervisors in a department that imposed a double standard of behavior for the men and women in uniform. She said male officers who committed worse infractions than she had were almost never subjected to the same level of scrutiny and punishment she endured.

Thomas' testimony concluded the city's defense in Malone's 2014 lawsuit alleging sexual discrimination, retaliation and hostile workplace.

The decision about whether she's right about why she was fired now rests with Pulaski County Circuit Judge Tim Fox. He told the sides that he will issue his findings as soon as possible once he completes another review of the evidence and testimony submitted during the two-day bench trial.

Malone, who was on the police force for seven years, is asking for her $45,000-a-year job back with back-pay or the equivalent of that compensation since her firing, along with punitive damages.

She is also asking the judge to force some changes on the department, including specialized training for police supervisors on recognizing and avoiding discrimination.

Questioned by Deputy City Attorney Amy Beckman Fields, Thomas testified that Malone, then known as Tiffany Johnson, was fired for using excessive force during an arrest, then lying about it.

She had already been suspended twice for conduct violations that involved her lying to superiors, he said. As police chief, the decision to fire Malone rested with him alone, he told the judge.

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Thomas, who retired in 2014, told the judge that he could not justify keeping Malone on the force after she pepper-sprayed a one-legged drunken man while he was in handcuffs and being arrested.

"The actions were just so totally unnecessary," Thomas testified. "The victim was just so totally helpless."

Police had found the 44-year-old man, who is sometimes homeless, behind a convenience store. He was passed out on the ground in front of his wheelchair.

Malone's version of events, that Randy O'Neal Coleman had been belligerent and threatening when officers tried to help him, was not supported by any evidence, including a police dashboard camera video of the October 2012 encounter, Thomas said. The recording was played for the judge Wednesday.

Assistant Chief Wayne Bewley also condemned Malone's behavior in his testimony. He told the judge that he had advised the chief to fire Malone.

Coleman has had numerous arrests for drunken and disorderly behavior, and although he is well-known to police, the officers who found him unconscious on the ground should have helped him instead of provoking him and arresting him, Bewley said.

Johnson (Malone) and the second officer "escalated the entire situation," he told the judge. "I just felt that the use of force was so over the top."

Also testifying on behalf of the city was Malone's former supervisor, Corey Hall, who told the judge that he'd been reprimanded by the chief for the way he talked to Malone.

He told the judge that like many officers, Malone included, he frequently cursed on the job, but he never used profanity to demean Malone or any other officer. He denied ever sexually propositioning her or treating her differently from male officers.

He said he stopped cursing around her once her complaint about the way he had spoken to her was brought to his attention by his superiors.

Malone developed a problem showing up for work on time and did not always keep her hair to regulation length, Hall told the judge.

Hall, who was demoted from sergeant in 2012, also said he was a strict supervisor who demanded that his officers follow procedure and protocol. He said he required them to keep even their badges shined.

Hall took the witness stand after being informed by the judge that he personally would be forced to pay any punitive damages that Malone might be awarded if the verdict comes out in her favor. The city would not be allowed to pay those penalties nor would they be obligated to do so, Fox said.

After questioning Hall about his decision to forgo his own lawyers and rely on the city's attorneys to represent him, the judge said he did not believe that Hall was sufficiently apprised of his right to seek his own legal representation by City Attorney Tom Carpenter.

Malone's attorney, Lucien Gillham, rested his case after calling four past and current female officers to testify about how they had been treated at the Police Department.

Assistant Chief Alice Fulks, the first woman to hold that rank in the department, told the judge that she had sued after twice being passed over for the position. She said she'd complained to Thomas about a "glass ceiling" for women in top-level management positions on the department. She was promoted in 2014.

Officer Jessica Eubanks told the judge that a sergeant once gave her a rainbow-colored sex toy at work, daily subjected her to sexual innuendos and regularly touched her against her wishes.

She had also sued the department, claiming that sexual discrimination was the reason she was once suspended for a week without pay. That case was thrown out last year. The official reason for her suspension was that she had arced her stun gun to intimidate a combative suspect.

Alicia Smith, who had been an officer for 12 years, said she'd been subjected to "overwhelming" sexual harassment for years by one sergeant. She once had to lock a door to keep him from following her into the restroom, she told the judge. One supervisor advised her to quit if she thought she was being treated so badly, she said.

Former traffic officer Natasha Sims declined to testify about her grievances when called to the witness stand. City lawyers said her testimony would violate her $400,000 settlement agreement to drop her discrimination lawsuit against the department. Sims told the judge that she'd heard them talking about suing her.

Metro on 02/17/2017

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