Ex-deputy sues Wake sheriff, alleges retaliation for demoting friend over racist comments
A former deputy has sued Wake County Sheriff Gerald Baker in federal court, alleging he lost his job out of retaliation for demoting Baker’s friend, a fellow deputy who allegedly made racist and homophobic remarks.
The suit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Raleigh, describes longtime deputy Richard Johnson being discharged from the Sheriff’s Office in 2018, shortly after Baker won election over former Sheriff Donnie Harrison.
Eric Curry, the sheriff’s office spokesperson, said late Wednesday afternoon that the office had not reviewed the complaint yet.
“However, Sheriff Baker’s position has been, and continues to be, that these matters should be handled in the court system where all the facts are brought forth, and are not litigated or sensationalized in the media,” Curry said in the statement.
Johnson had a long career with both the Wake County Sheriff’s Office and the Raleigh Police Department, and Harrison called him out of retirement in 2013, making him lieutenant and then chief of operations.
In 2017, the lawsuit said, two deputies reported to Johnson that Lt. Teddy Patrick had made inappropriate remarks during a training session that 44 deputies attended. During the session, the suit said, Patrick said he “did not like gay people” and singled out a deputy as gay in front of the others.
Patrick also told deputies he was not comfortable with Muslims on airplanes and said “if white people keep killing themselves, we black people will be the majority,” according to the lawsuit.
These remarks “made numerous deputies uncomfortable,” the suit said.
Johnson reported this to Harrison, who conducted an internal affairs investigation that confirmed the remarks had been made, according to the lawsuit. Harrison and Johnson then met and decided to demote Patrick to senior investigator, costing him pay and supervisory authority.
Patrick filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which was dismissed, the suit said.
Baker and Patrick are “close friends,” the suit said, having taken more than one trip to the Caribbean together, where they discussed Baker’s 2018 run for sheriff.
After Baker’s victory, the suit said, he told a close colleague not to allow Johnson to be sworn as a deputy, which would cost him his job.
Johnson seeks damages for back pay, lost benefits, emotional pain, mental anguish and damage to his reputation. His attorneys, Richard Gammon and Joseph Zeszotarski, are requesting a jury trial.
This story was originally published January 8, 2020 at 8:53 AM.