Scandal within the Lawrenceville police department has resurfaced as a new lawsuit has been filed in the matter.
The lawsuit is the latest in a sexual harassment scandal that began last fall. In January, the story broke that a female woman on command staff had complained of sexual harassment and a hostile work environment for women in the department. As a result, Chief Tim Wallis was suspended. In February, he retired amid the accusations.
Now Wallis has filed his own lawsuit that his rights were violated by the department. He claims that City Manager Chuck Warbington ordered Wallis to not speak out to any news media about the investigation. He says that Warbington threatened both him and his wife against telling their side of the story. Because his wife was quoted as defending her husband in an article published by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC), Wallis claims he had “disobeyed instructions” and was either going to be fired or he had the option to retire.
Now Wallis has filed a 29-page federal lawsuit against Warbington and the city of Lawrenceville, saying his constitutional rights were violated by being silenced.
Wallis says that he wanted his side of the story to be told, as well. He claims Warbington released information according to his own narrative, not necessarily according to what was the truth. According to the AJC, the lawsuit claims Warbington offered “Chief Wallis as a sacrificial lamb, thereby deflecting attention from his own failures as a leader.”
An internal investigation by an outside firm produced a report in December that concluded Chief Wallis, along with a male captain Ryan Morgan, had harassed Capt. Tawnya Gilovanni. Both Wallis and Morgan denied any wrongdoing.
Gilovanni claimed Wallis referred to her as a “Hooter’s Girl” one day at work. Wallis claims he was trying to discreetly let Gilovanni her know that her outfit was inappropriate for work. In the lawsuit Wallis claims, “he felt at the time it was good natured, in keeping with what he felt was the tone of the conversation.”
Wallis claims the department did not value diversity and was insensitive to women before he arrived. He says he inherited the situation and tried to make changes. During his leadership, he promoted a woman and person of color to leadership positions. The lawsuit claims Wallis has been “wrongfully labeled” and he was not allowed to publicly defend himself.
The lawsuit claims that the second person investigated in the scandal, Ryan Morgan, was allowed to resign with honor and even given a retirement celebration, whereas Wallis was given ten minutes to make a “retire or be fired” decision. The lawsuit says it plans to explore more deeply the actions toward both Wallis and Morgan.
