Police discrimination trial
Scattered across more than a month of testimony, former Richmond Police Department Deputy Chief Lori Ritter has been accused by some of her former colleagues of harboring a vendetta against them and lashing out at them with racially-tinged jokes. But taking the witness stand herself for the first time on Tuesday, Ritter turned the tables. “I’ve always felt that there was a good ol’ boys network” in the Richmond Police Department, Ritter said. “It was a predominately male profession ……
After more than a week on the witness stand, Richmond Police Chief Chris Magnus’ last day of testimony as a defendant was one of more questions from the plaintiff’s attorneys—and from the jury. “Do you have any friends in the Richmond Police Department?” was one question that came from the jury, read by the judge. Magnus spent the day of testimony answering questions from Stephen Jaffe, attorney for six of the plaintiffs, and Jonathan Matthews, attorney for the seventh, Lt….
In court on Thursday, Jonathan Matthews, attorney for plaintiff Lieutenant Cleveland Brown in the racial discrimination lawsuit against the city of Richmond and Chief of Police Chris Magnus, continued with questioning Magnus about his actions during a staff retreat in Napa in late 2006. The seven plaintiffs are all black commanders within the police department and have alleged that Magnus and then-Deputy Chief Lori Ritter prevented the advancement of black officers and cracked racist jokes. In addition to Brown, the…
During six weeks of testimony in the racial discrimination lawsuit against the city of Richmond, one name has come up again and again: that of Lori Ritter, the former Deputy Chief of police. Ritter is named in the lawsuit as a defendant, along with the city and police Chief Chris Magnus. The seven plaintiffs—all black commanders within the police department—have alleged that Magnus and Ritter thwarted the advancement of black officers and cracked racist jokes. The city’s lawyers contend that…
When he took the helm in early 2006, Richmond Police Chief Chris Magnus looked to impose his geographically centered policing strategy in a department accustomed to mobile crime suppression teams and cleaved with persistent racial division. “Unfortunately our department is greatly segregated,” then-Captain Ed Medina wrote in a memo reviewed by Magnus in 2006. “We are still separated by race (minority officers associations, etc.) which continually drives wedges between groups.” Magnus’s third day of testimony in Contra Costa County Superior…
On his second day of testimony in the racial discrimination lawsuit filed against him, Richmond Police Chief Chris Magnus made some memorable statements to the court.
Richmond Police Chief Chris Magnus took the stand Wednesday, the first time the jury has heard from him since testimony began in the racial discrimination lawsuit filed against him. Magnus was sworn in just fifteen minutes before court adjourned. But fifteen minutes were enough to offer a preview of the arguments ahead. Stephen R. Jaffe, the attorney for the seven plaintiffs who are suing Magnus and the city for workplace discrimination, described what he called a racially charged prank in…
Lt. Cleveland Brown testified that he never heard the Richmond police chief or deputy chief use racial slurs, but that they made remarks that were offensive to African Americans. Former Deputy Chief Lori Ritter “told me to tap dance,” Brown said from the witness stand. “That is racially offensive.” Brown is one of seven high-ranking African American police officials suing Ritter, Police Chief Chris Magnus and the City of Richmond for workplace discrimination. During his third day of testimony, the…
Cliques, rumors, exclusion: those words came up again and again on Wednesday during testimony in the racial discrimination suit against the city and police Chief Chris Magnus.