Opinion ID: 4553045
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: James’s Allegations

Text: While we write only for the benefit of the parties, we nonetheless set out the facts insofar as they are relevant for understanding our opinion. Hortensia James, an African-American female, worked as a police officer in the Robbery Bureau of the Department. While working for the Department, she was repeatedly disciplined for misconduct and was denied an opportunity to transfer to the Homicide Bureau. She alleges that the punishments she received, along with the denial of her transfer request, occurred because the Department was discriminating against her on the basis of her sex and race. 2 Case: 19-13044 Date Filed: 08/04/2020 Page: 3 of 16 We summarize James’s allegations as follows. In 2013, she received a 19day suspension after stopping a school bus to detain a minor who had hit her daughter, while a white male officer in the Department received only a 3-day suspension for using excessive force against a suspect and lying about it during the subsequent investigation. Her requests to be transferred to the Homicide Bureau from the Robbery Bureau were ignored, but a less qualified white male officer had received training so that he could be moved to the Homicide Bureau once his training was complaint. She complained to Deputy Chief Ron Cook about race and sex discrimination in January 2015. Shortly thereafter, Sergeant Bruce Thornell helped coach a citizen into filing a complaint against James, leading to James confronting Thornell. At some point, Sergeant Hudson, James’s superior, issued a written reprimand against James for not providing a doctor’s note for missing work, a requirement not enforced against white detectives who called out sick. The investigation of the citizen complaint and the confrontation with Sergeant Thornell resulted in James’s suspension in 2015. A white male detective, Corporal Schnupp, had similar confrontations with Sergeant Thornell without being disciplined. Another white man, Detective Geier, received only a 3-day suspension after cursing his supervisor. James was ultimately terminated from her position after sending an email to the Department’s Chief of Police, Chief of Staff, and Chief of Operations that 3 Case: 19-13044 Date Filed: 08/04/2020 Page: 4 of 16 compared the Department to a small “Middle Eastern country” that was run like a “dictatorship.” After the Department investigated the incident, James’s superior recommended that she be terminated. Then-Mayor Todd Strange approved James’s termination on November 21, 2017.