Report: Jury says Seattle Police Chief O’Toole retaliated against officers

The city will now pay millions after a King County jury determined the Seattle Police Department, and its chief, retaliated against officers over their dissenting opinions.

Related: This is why the Seattle Police Department has no problem hiring new officers

The Seattle Times reports that the King County Superior Court concluded that Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole retaliated against two officers — Sergeant Ella Elias and Capt. David Proudfoot. The two officers were transferred out of the South Precinct after they raised an issue involving overtime pay.

There was a third officer in the case, Lt. Steve Strand, but the jury found that O’Toole did not retaliate against him. The consequences for the city amount to a $1.9 million award to Elias and $932,000 to Proudfoot.

The core issue was Elias, a white officer, commenting that four black officers got preferential overtime pay due to a 2011 policy, the Times reports. She was transfered out of the precinct. The other two Seattle police officers defended her and opposed the department when it transferred her.

In response to the decision, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray released the following statements:

Chief O’Toole and I inherited a police department with major challenges, including significant management issues and racial tension in the South Precinct going back to 2011.

This verdict is disappointing but does not reflect the new leadership and new dynamic we have today in the South Precinct.

I hired the Chief with great confidence in her ability to make tough management decisions in the middle of a federal consent decree process. I support the decision she made in this case and have encouraged her to continue to make decisions that support the reform of the department.

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