A black police lieutenant is facing 10 lawsuit brought by her white and black colleagues – who are accusing her of ‘discrimination’ and creating a ‘hostile’ work environment.
Melissa McFadden, 50, from Columbus, Ohio, has had numerous complaints filed against her, dating back to 2017, which claim she groomed young black cops to generate an ‘us versus them’ mentality against their white colleagues.
McFadden is also said to have shown support for a ‘defunding the police’ movement despite it being her occupation for the past 25 years.
She has also accused the Columbus force which she works for of being racist and has detailed her experience in a new book called The Thin Black Line. Following the release of the book McFadden is now the subject of an internal affairs investigation.
As well as that she has also been accused of violating a division directive that said ‘personnel shall not publicly criticize the division’.
Speaking to the Daily Beast, McFadden said: ‘I am not here as a division employee but here as Melissa McFadden. As long as I am speaking on something of public concern I am okay to do that.
‘And these are things that are concerns to the citizens such as racism, sexism, corruption, all those things I speak about in my book relate to those topics.’
McFadden has faced 23 complaints from internal affairs during her quarter-century career. Thirteen of those have occurred within the last four years.
The Daily Beast also reported that two were for ‘rude or discourteous language or actions’, while one was for using mace on a citizen.
In her book McFadden also claimed she was subjected to discrimination and even named some people from the police force in the text.
McFadden added: ‘I am concerned about retaliation but I expect it. I put the book out knowing they will probably retaliate because they can’t help themselves, that is what they do.
‘The people I put in the book. It’s factual. So if they want to sue me I have lawyers on retainer. I am okay with that.
‘But at the end of the day what I said in the book is true and can be backed up with facts.’
The Columbus Division of Police did not comment on the issues surrounding McFadden with a spokesperson declaring it to be ‘an ongoing legal and personnel matter’.
*story by METRO.co.uk
