LOTT, Texas (KWTX) - The former police chief of the defunct Lott Police Department has filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the city of Lott, alleging council members disbanded the police department and eliminated his job after he alleged wrongdoing by the mayor.
Michael R. Hamilton is seeking $250,000 in damages and reinstatement as chief in his lawsuit, filed last week in Waco’s 170th State District Court.
KWTX called Lott Mayor Sue Tacker, who said she was ill and could not do an on-camera interview. KWTX also called a spokeswoman for the Texas Municipal League, which will find an attorney to represent the city, but did not hear back on Monday.
According to the lawsuit, Hamilton, who had served as Lott police chief since January 2009, sent a letter to Falls County District Attorney Jody Gilliam on July 11 that outlined what he believed to be allegations of wrongdoing by Tacker. He also provided copies of the letter to the council, the lawsuit states.
That same night at a Lott City Council meeting, Tacker called Hamilton a “tattletale” and the council voted to “entirely defund the police department,” the lawsuit alleges.
“Mayor Tacker and the council then attempted to make the retaliation less obvious, delaying the matter until a second vote to eliminate the police department, at an Aug. 22, 2022, meeting,” according to the lawsuit. “They gave Chief Hamilton until noon the next day to turn over his keys and equipment. The mayor’s level of spite was such that she could...
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