A Black Cincinnati police officer has responded to a lawsuit accusing her of being racist against white people.
Tamera Brown and Joy Ludgatis, both white, filed a lawsuit against Lt. Danita Pettis for being a "vindictive and openly racist police officer,” according to Cincinnati.com.
"Pettis' behavior was so hostile, demeaning and unprofessional that the entire third shift of District 4 sent a memo to police Chief Eliot Isaac requesting a conference regarding Pettis' practices of verbal abuse and emotional intimidation and their collective fear of unfair retaliation,” the plaintiffs wrote in the lawsuit.
Brown and Ludgatis accused her of creating a "hostile work environment” resulting in an "open hostility between officers of different races.” The pair worked under Pettis when she was a commander over their district.
The lawsuit also accused Pettis of theft from the office and Fifth Third Bank; falsifying credentials to get into jail to counsel a suspect on how to beat a rape charge and using her position as a union rep for the Sentinels, the Black police officer union, to obstruct justice.
Pettis responded to the claim last week with a filing of her own. The lieutenant says she was disciplined more harshly because she is Black. She also accused Brown and Ludgatis of "racist, hostile and harassing behavior."
Pettis acknowledged there was racial tension but blamed it on "the unequal and/or complete lack of representation and inclusion of Black officers" by the central police union.
"At the end of the day, I think people will see this is a frivolous lawsuit," Janaya Trotter Bratton, Pettis' attorney, said.
Her response also noted Ludgatis was transferred after she made “several racist and inappropriate comments regarding Black ranking officers.”
There were no specific accusations against Brown in Pettis’ response.
According to Fox19, all three officers were transferred from District 4 in 2017, two years after Pettis filed the equal employment opportunity (EEO) complaints against Brown and Ludgatis. Pettis went to District 3 while Ludgatis and Brown went to Districts 2 and 1, respectively.
In February 2015, Captain Mike Neville noted racially charged comments from Ludgatis in a memo to then-police Chief Jeffrey Blackwell requesting a transfer.
“Ludgatis made derogatory remarks reference the Cincinnati Police Department's promotional system, and distrust with incoming Police Lt. Danita Pettis," Neville wrote.
"More specifically, Specialist Ludgatis expressed her belief that Blacks always claim they were denied transfer opportunities because of their race, yet whites are the ones passed over for promotion because of affirmative action."
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