Photo by Erin Nelson Starnes Media
Members of the Homewood, Vestavia Hills and Mountain Brook police and fire departments attended the 9/11 Remembrance and Patriot Day Celebration held at City Hall in downtown Homewood on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2019. Photo by Erin Nelson
Veteran Homewood Police Officer Victor Sims II filed a lawsuit in federal court Feb. 10 against the Homewood Police Department for allegedly being demoted from the rank of detective based on race.
According to the lawsuit, in August 2021, Sims was told by fellow police officer, Lieutenant Greg Brundage, he was being reassigned from HPD’s Special Investigation Unit (SIU), primarily a drug unit, to be either a School Resource Officer or a patrolman, due to a rule requiring HPD officers to be reassigned after serving a “special assignment” for five years.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, Southern Division, claims HPD routinely ignored the “Five Year Rule” with its Caucasian officers but is “following it to the letter [with] a black detective.”
Sims sent an email two weeks later to police Chief Tim Ross, Brundage and Sgt. Eric Marquard saying the move from the unit was based on race, according to the lawsuit.
He pointed out several alleged instances in the email of discrimination. For instance, Sims said that Brundage told him in a meeting that a Caucasian officer’s specific position was permanent, even though HPD policy states that the specific position should only be held for a maximum of three years.
In Sims' email, he also cited a conversation between himself and Brundage in which Brundage was “venting” to Sims about an officer, only referred to as Sgt. Smith in the lawsuit, in which Smith said he "couldn't work for a black man" because a Black officer previously filed a complaint against Smith.
After two weeks of no action or response from HPD leadership on the complaint that his move from SIU was discriminatory, according to the lawsuit, Sims filed a Charge of Discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in September 2021. He amended the charge after still not hearing anything back from the department in Oct. 2021.
In the lawsuit, Sims also referred to a conversation in which one Homewood officer said, “All you have to do is write a couple tickets, be a little racist and you’re good!”
In the amended complaint to the EEOC, Sims accused a Sgt. King of referring to him as "The Enemy" for "reporting workplace racism" with no repercussions for doing so. Sims also accused Corporal Jonathan Wisenhunt of threatening Sims with bodily harm if his complaint got Wisenhunt removed from the Motor Scouts and the pay bump that comes with it.
According to the lawsuit, the Special Investigations Unit was dissolved in November 2021, which in turn demoted Sims to patrolman and forced him to take a pay cut. He and other officers in the department thought it was a direct response to Sims’ complaints, Sims said in the lawsuit. While Ross said the move was to improve scheduling, Sims said it actually created more problems in regards to scheduling.
“Everybody [in the department] knows why these moves are happening - because of your complaint,” an officer only referred to as “Officer B” allegedly said to Sims. “Some of us are getting caught up in it [upcoming schedule changes] as pawns.”
Sims' lawsuit reports a conversation he said he had with Homewood’s court clerk and chief magistrate in which the magistrate said Sims was being treated unfairly and is “sticking up for what’s right.”
“They're [the decision-makers] doing it because of your complaint [about racism within the HPD],” the magistrate said, according to the lawsuit. “Everybody sees that.”
"With actual knowledge of the HPD's and Chief Ross's abysmal track record regarding workplace racism and, over the years, Chief Ross consistently ignoring or coddling Caucasian racists within the HPD, Defendant Homewood continues to simply bury its head in the sand regarding training and supervising both Chief Ross, the HPD Command Staff and all of its officers and employees regarding workplace race discrimination and what should be a zero tolerance policy regarding it," Sims said in the lawsuit.
“[There’s} been stuff going on for a while and it’s not just me,” Sims said in a statement to The Homewood Star.
HPD has been sued for alleged acts of discrimination and racism before. In 2019, former police dispatchers LaShawn Smith and Charity Moore sued HPD, contending that the department discriminates in how medical accommodations are handled for Black employees compared to Caucasian employees. At press time, the status of that lawsuit was unclear.
A Homewood Police spokesperson would not comment about the allegations in Sims' lawsuit. Sgt. John Carr with HPD said it is department policy not to issue comment on pending litigation.
The Homewood Star will continue to follow this story as it develops.
-- Community Editor Neal Embry contributed to this report
