A Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia police car is pictured at an entrance as an investigation of a security threat is being conducted at a school February 8, 2022.
CNN —
Five current and former employees of the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, DC, have filed a lawsuit against the District of Columbia, alleging that MPD management created a hostile work environment and retaliated against them for speaking out.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday in the US District Court for DC, is the fourth concerning the MPD in the past six months making serious allegations about a toxic culture.
Three of the five employees previously worked in the police department’s Equal Employment Opportunity unit, which is responsible for investigating claims of discrimination filed by sworn officers and civilians at the MPD. Two still work in the department.
Thursday’s lawsuit details complaints made by counselors who worked under Alphonso Lee, the director of the EEO division at the MPD. Pamela Keith, one of the attorneys on all four lawsuits, told CNN that is telling.
“I’ve never seen a case where all five employees of an EEO Department are essentially claiming collusion to violate someone’s civil rights,” Keith said. “The whole department is telling the same tale.”
Lee declined to comment on the fourth suit and its allegations, deferring to the MPD. He is not referenced in the other three lawsuits. In response to a comment on the latest lawsuit, the MPD told CNN...
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