Former MP Andrew Richmond filed the lawsuit in the District Court on March 30, alleging retaliation, racial discrimination and constructive dismissal.
SPOKANE, Washington. – A former Spokane County Sheriff’s Deputy who filed a compliance complaint about another deputy deputy’s racist behavior is suing the sheriff’s office after alleging he was harassed over the complaint.
Former MP Andrew Richmond filed the lawsuit in the District Court on March 30, alleging retaliation, racial discrimination and constructive dismissal.
According to the lawsuit, Richmond, a black MP, reported Sergeant Jeffrey Thurman in December 2016 after asking another MP if he was willing to “kill some N ******”.
Thurman was the former handler of the famous K-9 Laslo who assisted in the arrest of more than 470 suspects. He was later fired for his comments.
“Thurman approached Richmond and told Richmond that Thurman was only referring to” inner-city “blacks who were” rioting and looting, “” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit alleges that Richmond reported Thurman’s racist comments between 2016 and 2018 to three sergeants, one of whom was the only other black officer employed in the sheriff’s office. Neither of these sergeants reported on Thurman’s comments, the lawsuit says.
In May 2019, Richmond filed a formal complaint with his union about Thurman’s conduct and the discrimination and retaliation related to his application and interview for the Air Support Unit.
He also reported other retaliatory actions against him from the date he overheard the comments to the date of his formal complaint, the lawsuit states.
During the internal affairs investigation, the lawsuit alleged that Thurman often “spoke about the killing of African Americans” and called blacks “n ******” when discussing the Black Lives Matter movement.
Richmond was later interviewed by a home affairs investigator and told him he was the subject of racial discrimination and retaliation for his application and interview for the Air Support Unit following the Thurman incident.
“Richmond informed Hines that one of the officials who had awarded the position was Deputy Krystal Bitzer, Richmond said her ASU interview was informal and described it as a” BS “with the other board members making the hiring decision. She told Richmond that she had “no real questions” asked. In fact, she received the answers to possible questions from “ASU members” prior to her interview. In contrast, Richmond was asked a number of difficult questions. Thurman was involved in the ASU interview process and was included in the ASU team during the interviews, ”the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit states that Richmond was not officially informed that he was not selected for the ASU position, but that he was told in person that SCSO command staff prevented him from getting the position. The sergeant told Richmond to shut up because he was not selected, the lawsuit said.
According to the lawsuit, it is SCSO’s policy to notify respondents via email or phone of the non-selection and the scoring sheets from the interviews were not retained.
The lawsuit also alleges that Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich refused to allow ex-sergeant David Ellis to be questioned as part of the IA investigation into Thurman’s conduct. The IA investigator personally told Richmond that Knezovich did not have Ellis interviewed. The lawsuit states that Knezovich later ended the IA investigation.
“Knezovich found Richmond’s retaliatory complaint related to the ASU position to be ‘unfounded’. Knezovich has since testified that he had no reason to doubt that Richmond was telling the truth about Thurman’s racist comments. On June 12, 2019, Richmond Knezovich personally announced that Ellis needed to be interviewed and raised concerns about Ellis’ relationship with Thurman, “the lawsuit reads.
The next day, Knezovich held a press conference about Thurman’s resignation.
“Knezovich stated that Thurman’s behavior will never be tolerated … It is reprehensible and any MP who dishonors this community and their badge in this way will not work for the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit also alleges a press release released around the time Thurman was fired. Knezovich opened the IA investigation, which refutes the lawsuit.
Following the announcement, the lawsuit alleged that members of the community had made public charges against Richmond. On the same day, the lawsuit also alleged that SCSO had “distributed a read-out memo to all employees” identifying Richmond by name as the complainant.
“Richmond was in a meeting with about 25 SCSO MPs that day when Lieutenant Mike Zollars read the memo and named it Richmond. Other MPs told Richmond that they had read the memo at similar meetings. In the course of the IA investigation, Richmond received repeated assurances that his name would not be published. Richmond was immediately asked by employees why he “accidentally” reported Thurman, ”the lawsuit said.
Richmond later learned that ASU members were listening to audio recordings of the IA interviews and that his interview was being discussed in a group, the lawsuit said. He claims his concerns about this have been blown away by internal affairs.
Upon investigation, Richmond learned that Spokane Valley chief Mark Werner and Spokane Valley commander Matt Lyons had close ties with Thurman and were spreading rumors about Richmond. Both Werner and Lyon retired in 2020.
“Lyons loudly supported Thurman’s use of the word” n ***** “, and Lyons made it clear that he believed the comment on” killing n ****** “was not in violation of the guidelines. Chef Werner spread the word a false rumor that Richmond had a sexual relationship with Van Patten, one of Richmond’s former recruits, ”the lawsuit reads.
In July 2019, Knezovich called Richmond to discuss the allegations Werner had made against him. The lawsuit alleges the call violated SCSO guidelines, Richmond’s rights to an IA investigation, and Richmond’s rights as a union member.
Richmond said he told Knezovich about Lyons and Werner’s comments disregarding the use of racial slurs as a violation of guidelines and how he felt uncomfortable working for Lyon. The lawsuit alleges that Knezovich decided to move Richmond to the SCSO downtown office in response to the “vengeful, hostile work environment” created by Richmond’s supervisors.
The lawsuit alleges that Thurman reported information to SCSO employees in order to discredit and intimidate Richmond. Richmond later received text messages between Thurman and two other MPs and other SCSO staff, the lawsuit said.
“One person in the text group said, ‘Now everyone is gay … wait … is that wrong?’ The message was in response to Thurman, who said, “Let me not make brothers clear like a racist thing, but brother by blood just to be clear,” “because God forbids it, we say everything these days.” A number of SCSO employees in the text thread used their work phones to participate in this communication, ”says the lawsuit.
Richmond quit his job at SCSO in July 2019 due to the ongoing retaliation. Richmond took a position with the Spokane Police Department, which resulted in a wage cut and a loss of his rank.
The lawsuit alleges that rumors about Richmond continue to this day and that SCSO and the county have done nothing to stop the damage to its reputation.
Richmond seeks economic, emotional, and mental agony at levels that need to be proven in court.
Knezovich issued a statement on the lawsuit on Thursday.
“I am extremely disappointed that Andrew Richmond took this course of action. The Sheriff’s Office denies any retaliation or discrimination against Andrew Richmond. We thoroughly investigated Mr. Richmond’s allegations in 2019 and ensured everyone’s rights Parties along the way should be aware of the process.
“We will be working with legal counsel to defend this lawsuit, and a related lawsuit, filed by Jeff Thurman as a result of his resignation from the Sheriff’s Office in 2019.”
