VIRGINIA BEACH — A Black Virginia Beach police officer who claims he was investigated and demoted after he tried to assist a Black recruit who believed she was being discriminated against is suing the city.
Michael Banks first filed his lawsuit in March in U.S. District Court in Norfolk, naming the city and several members of the police department as defendants. He submitted an amended complaint this week in which only the city was listed as a defendant.
“We understand that when a City employee has a workplace concern it can cause emotional reactions and attract media attention,” Virginia Beach spokeswoman Tiffany Russell said in an email to The Virginian-Pilot. “However, both the City and this officer deserve the due process and fairness that the law and the litigation process allows, and we encourage everyone to withhold judgment while this process unfolds. We accordingly decline to comment further at this time.”
Banks said in his filing he’s been a member of the Virginia Beach Police Department since 1997. He was promoted to master police officer in 2003, sergeant in 2016, and had been on the lieutenant promotion list, the complaint said. In 2021, he was assigned to the internal affairs bureau, in which he investigated complaints against fellow officers.
In June 2021, Banks said a Black police lieutenant asked if he’d be willing to speak with an African American probationary police officer who was concerned she wasn’t getting the same training support as her white peers, the lawsuit said. Banks was known to be an antidiscrimination advocate and informal mentor to minority recruits within the department, the complaint said.
The probationary officer told Banks about “challenges” she was having with her trainer, a Black male officer, at the third precinct, the complaint said. Banks reached out to the precinct’s training supervisor about those concerns on two separate occasions — which the lawsuit described as a legally protected activity — but the conversations were “cut short” both times.
Banks also contacted the training officer and made it clear he wasn’t acting in any official capacity, and only wanted to discuss the woman’s perceptions of being treated unfairly, the complaint said.
Banks later learned the officer filed a complaint against him in which he alleged Banks had abused his authority, and that he felt coerced to pass the probationary officer in the training process. The woman, however, didn’t successfully complete the process, according to the document.
The training officer’s complaint against Banks led to a series of events, including an investigation resulting in Banks being transferred out of internal affairs, having his access to police headquarters cut off, being demoted from sergeant to master police officer and having his pay cut, the lawsuit said.
During the process, Banks sought multiple meetings with department leaders, and filed complaints with the city’s human resources department and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, in which he alleged he’d been subjected to a hostile work environment due to race and retaliation.
The EEOC issued Banks a right to sue in federal court late last year. In addition to compensatory and punitive damages, Banks seeks to be returned to the rank of sergeant, and promoted to lieutenant.
Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com
