OAKLAND (KCBS RADIO) – Former Oakland Police Chief Anne Kirkpatrick achieved a milestone in her wrongful termination suit against the city on Thursday.
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A nine-member jury found that the former police chief was wrongfully terminated, according to reporting by Courthouse News, for revealing unlawful city conduct.
Kirkpatrick was fired in 2020 after attempting to raise concerns over the conduct of the city's Police Commission, whom she believed were leveraging their positions for personal benefit.
She reported her concerns to the mayor, city auditor, and city attorney's office, as well as filing a formal complaint in 2019 after a particular meeting in which Kirkpatrick felt she and her staff were unfairly treated by the commissioners.
She called out one commissioner for using her badge on more than one occasion to try to get out of things, including a towing fee.
The city's case in the trial was that Kirkpatrick was let go for a variety of reasons, including poor job performance, poor execution of reform, as well as the 2018 police killing of a homeless man in the city.
But the jury was asked to consider two questions when making their decision – "whether the city of Oakland unlawfully terminated her for disclosing to the city conduct she had reasonable cause to believe is unlawful, and whether the city violated her free speech rights by terminating her in retaliation for making reports on a matter of public concern," the outlet reported.
Ultimately, the first question was answered with yes, while the second was answered with a no, by the jury, the outlet reported.
"We're thankful to the jury for their service. After weighing the facts of the case, the jury decided Ms. Kirkpatrick is not entitled to any more than the one-year severance the City was ready and willing to pay when she was terminated in 2020," said Oakland City Attorney Barbara J. Parker in an emailed statement to KCBS Radio.
Kirkpatrick will be awarded $337,635 in economic and emotional damages, according to Courthouse News.
"Anne Kirkpatrick has been vindicated. She said all along that she was retaliated against for blowing the whistle on misconduct and a federal jury agreed," said Kirkpatrick's attorney James Slaughter in a statement to KCBS Radio.
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