SEATTLE — The Seattle Police Department (SPD) and former Police Chief Adrian Diaz are now facing legal action from at least seven employees who have alleged racial and gender discrimination within the department.
The most recent lawsuit was filed by a longtime SPD employee who has served as assistant chief since 2017 but was demoted to the rank of captain in early 2023 after reporting concerns about racial discrimination.
This comes as several other high-profile Seattle Police Department employees come forward with their own accusations of sexism, harassment and discrimination leveled at Diaz and other SPD top brass. Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell previously announced to the city council that he has tapped an outside investigator to look into the allegations.
KING 5 has confirmed with a senior commander at the Seattle Police Department that Adrian Diaz is out as chief and has been reassigned to a new role.
Victoria Beach, a member of the Seattle Police Department's African American Advisory Committee held a press conference last week to push back against the accusations leveled at Diaz, saying they originated from disgruntled employees. Beach went on to say that if Diaz is removed as police chief, the department will face a setback in its community outreach work.
"Right now, I need to support him... I'm appalled, I'm fortunate to be on the inside, so I see a lot of stuff that's going on - is there racism in the Seattle Police Department? Yes, there is. But did Diaz bring it? No, it was there long before him," Beach said.
Find more information about the lawsuits SPD and Diaz currently face below:
Four female officers say they have dealt with bullying, sexual harassment, and discrimination at the Seattle Police Department. They filed a $5 million claim singling out the alleged actions of Sgt. John O’Neil, former Chief Adrian Diaz and Human Resources Manager Rebecca McKechnie.
O’Neil and Diaz are accused of engaging in “grooming” and “predatory behavior.” McKechnie is alleged to have engaged in victim blaming when officers came forward with their complaints.
A tort claim against the city was filed on April 25. The city has 60 days to investigate and respond.
In a letter to the Seattle City Council, Mayor Bruce Harrell said he would tap an outside investigator to look into the claims of sexual harassment and discrimination at the department after the four officers came forward.
The Seattle Police Department Office of Public Affairs released the following statement:
"As a general rule, the Seattle Police Department does not litigate tort claims in the media – a practice which is discouraged under case schedules that dictate the flow of discovery in civil litigation, the rules of professional conduct to which all attorneys are bound, and as a matter of professional integrity. For that reason, the department will not respond to the personal attacks rooted in rough estimations of hearsay reflecting, at their core, individual perceptions of victimhood that are unsupported and – in some instances – belied by the comprehensive investigations that will no doubt ultimately be of record. While policing, not unlike many professions that require a high level of physicality, has been and remains a male-dominated profession, the Department, and Chief Diaz, are proud of the advancements made by women in the department over the past four years, the commitment of the department to work with its dedicated workforce to address both internal and external challenges that may push, or pull, women out of the workplace, and to create a healthy work environment where all employees can grow and thrive. While individual grievances may drive headlines, the Department is confident that the record, in its fullness, will prove them unsupported."
Diaz sent a statement to KING 5 that read, in part:
"These claims against Chief Diaz are both false and contradicted by the claimants’ earlier statements in extensive EEO investigations. As a Hispanic American with decades of experience in law enforcement, Chief Diaz has faced significant discrimination throughout his career. He well understands the negative impact it can have both personally and professionally. Based upon that experience, he has confronted it head on as chief, including specifically through the 30/30 Project to increase female participation in policing and police leadership. Chief Diaz is proud of the department’s record in addressing and overcoming inherent racism and sexism in his time as chief. He is confident the revealing light of the judicial process will set the record straight on these allegations."
A well-known Seattle Police Department detective filed a multi-million dollar claim against the City of Seattle, citing years of racism and gender discrimination.
Detective Denise “Cookie” Bouldin is known as a trailblazer as she was one of the first African American women to join the Seattle Police Department in the 1970s. A tort claim filed in March detailed numerous allegations of racial and gender discrimination Bouldin’s attorney said has been going on her entire 43-year career.
The claim also alleges that Bouldin was made to feel uncomfortable in her workplace at the department’s South Precinct and that racist and derogatory posters were left in locker rooms, including one where a supervisor replaced the name of a wanted suspect on a bulletin with the name of another African American Seattle police officer.
Seattle Assistant Police Chief claims sex discrimination, retaliation by SPD Chief Diaz
The former assistant chief of the criminal investigations bureau at the Seattle Police Department has filed a sex and wage discrimination lawsuit against former Chief Adrian Diaz, alleging that she was excluded from social events, networking opportunities and training because she is a woman, and retaliated against for applying to the police chief position.
Deanna Nollette has been with the Seattle Police Department for 27 years. She filed a lawsuit against Diaz and the SPD in early January, claiming that she and other female command staff were not offered travel, training or networking opportunities afforded to their male counterparts.
Nollette, who also applied to be police chief after former Chief Carmen Best's departure, said after she returned to the station from medical leave, she was reassigned to report to a white male colleague with less experience, according to the lawsuit. This was after she reported Diaz for sex discrimination.
In an interview, Diaz refuted the allegations, saying: "The whole claim of having a history of misogyny is factually untrue and there's no investigation that's ever been out there and I've done everything I can to better serve."
A lawsuit against the Seattle Police Department (SPD) and former Chief Adrian Diaz alleged that Diaz retaliated against an employee for raising concerns about racism and discrimination within the department.
Eric Greening has been with the Seattle Police Department since 1994 and rose to the rank of assistant chief in 2017. Greening, a Black man, was assigned to oversee the department's Collaborative Policing Bureau in 2021. He was assigned the additional task of being the executive sponsor of SPD's Race and Social Justice Initiative Change Team.
Greening expressed concerns to Diaz that women and people of color were being siloed to the RSJI team and the Collaborative Policing Bureau, and absolving white, male officers of the "responsibility to connect with community members in a non-enforcement capacity."
When Diaz informed all acting assistant chiefs that they would have to reapply for their roles, Greening claims that he was only given a perfunctory interview, and then demoted to a captain and placed him in charge of the Force Review Unit, which came with a $27,000 pay decrease.
Diaz's personal attorney issued a statement on his behalf, saying in part that he "is confident that an objective review of the circumstances underlying Mr. Greening's claims will show the department's actions were appropriate."
"As Chief Diaz has previously noted, SPD is deeply committed to enhancing diversity department-wide, and leadership opportunity and inclusion not just for a few officers, but for every officer. Chief Diaz launched the Relational Policing Initiative in 2022, which focused on changing the future of policing. This started with SPD’s Before the Badge program which has received national recognition. The department has also implemented a robust anti-bias training program overseen by a community-based organization that has already reached all department leadership levels," the statement reads.
"The chief and the Seattle Police Department are committed to building a culture of trust and respect for all employees," the statement continued.