Posted on 02/09/2019 7:52:23 AM PST by L.A.Justice
A female LAPD commander charged in an off-duty alcohol-related incident in Glendale has initiated legal action against the city of Los Angeles, alleging she has been unfairly punished because of her gender and the race of a male companion.
Nicole Mehringer's government claim, made public Thursday, also accused the LAPD of, "disparate treatment," during her administrative trial. Mehringer claimed at least six other LAPD officers, including an assistant chief and two commanders, kept their jobs and rank after they committed more serious alcohol-related violations, the claim said.
Mehringer's attorney, Brad Gage, alleged in the claim that the LAPD was intentionally delaying the release of the administrative trial transcript in order to limit Mehringer’s ability to appeal its findings in LA Superior Court.
The administrative trial panel, called a Board of Rights, recommended in December that Mehringer be terminated as the result of the April 2018 incident in Glendale, during which she was found asleep in the passenger seat of an unmarked LAPD sedan.
Mehringer's lawyer said last year he tried to convince the Board of Rights that his client was being treated more severely than other officers who kept their jobs after doing much worse.
"I believe that my client is being treated differently than the male employees," Gage said. "I believe there's evidence that male employees have been charged with greater allegations and not even been disciplined at all."
Mehringer submitted a document to the Board of Rights, an official familiar with the case confirmed to NBC4, that named a number of high-ranking LAPD officers who had allegedly been involved in DUI crashes, arrests and other incidents involving alcohol intoxication.
The document made a variety of accusations that those incidents were better covered-up by the LAPD, and therefore, were not known to the public, according to the official.
The Mehringer incident on April 27 in Glendale was widely publicized. A portion of the incident was recorded on cellphone video by a bystander. It showed her being led out of the passenger side of a Dodge Charger sedan by several police officers.
Glendale officers also made several audio recordings of the encounter, according to a legal document. The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office charged Mehringer in September with one misdemeanor count of public intoxication, according to a criminal complaint. She pleaded not guilty.
She also filed a government claim against the city of Glendale in October that alleged her arrest was improper.
The claim accused unnamed Glendale police officers and two sergeants of false arrest, false imprisonment, defamation, and other alleged harms during the incident on Brand Boulevard. A claim generally has to be filed before a city can be sued in state court.
The Glendale Police Department said it generally does not comment on pending lawsuits or legal cases.
An LAPD sergeant who worked with Mehringer has pleaded not guilty to DUI charges stemming from the same incident. James Kelly was allegedly asleep in the driver's seat of the Dodge. He also pleaded not guilty.
https://abc7.com/ex-lapd-commander-says-she-was-fired-because-shes-a-woman/5127882/
That KABC7 article has some more quotes from her attorney...
"My client acknowledges wrongdoing," Gage said. "She is willing to be punished, but she wants to be punished fairly. And she wants her 22 years of exemplary service to be recognized."
It is an update to a story posted in December...Back then, some posters commented that she is not that good looking...
Good luck to Commander...If her attorney could name other LAPD officers who avoided getting fired for worse offense...That will be interesting...Maybe Chief would let her keep her job to prevent names of those other officers from being disclosed...Her lawyer said, last month, that she is willing to be demoted to Captain...My position is that she should be given one more chance...
She was once in charge of LAPD officers in Venice Beach when she was a captain...
OK...When she got arrested for public intoxication, the driver was Sgt. James Kelly...He is black...I don't think that has any impact in her case...But, her attorney mentioned that in the legal papers...Whatever...
Let me take a wild guess here.
She (and her “escort”) are members of a protected race, gender, species and political party, right?
Maybe she should apply to the Boston PD after yesterday’s story of the copper with the two strippers and having his gun stolen.
Actually, no. She looks white and does not have a Hispanic name. I think she was fired for not being black. Side note: It looks like her offense was being drunk and asleep in an unmarked police car that another off duty police officer was driving. This is one of the rare cases where (if I didn’t miss something important) a complaint may be valid.
Two wrongs don’t make a right
Fire her and the others as well.
She thinks she deserves to be a captain after this incident?
I wish this was unbelievable.
She just may have a point.
But, being Mexifornia, and their xlown car of dimbulbcrat policritters, who knows what’ll happen?
A woman being passed out drunk out on the town has no business commanding men who work in a field like police work.
The question I have is why was she and another officer in a police car (marked or unmarked) if they were off duty?
My father was an undercover police officer and only used the police cars on his on duty time.
He had his own personal vehicle for off duty activities.
Euphemism for ‘passed out drunk’?
you can’t go back and fife people who have already been disciplined. Now without new charges. You’re stuck with the precident’s you create.
I'm not sure the male companion is her police partner. As a male companion usually implies a more intimate type of relationship. Unless of course they are the same person being described in the two different facets of relationship.
At any rate, good luck to her.
Where I live, they are encouraged to take marked cars and unmarked cars home. To some extent that is good for the community, because a recognizable police car parked in the neighborhood discourages crime.
Sigh first off, being asleep in your vehicle should not be a DUI/PI at all, unless you’re in the middle of a roadway. Being in a parked car is NOT ‘driving’.
At most, her and her partner should get in trouble for utilizing department vehicles for personal activities, unless they are already expressly allowed to do so.
“Where I live, they are encouraged to take marked cars and unmarked cars home. To some extent that is good for the community, because a recognizable police car parked in the neighborhood discourages crime.”
Okay, thanks for clearing that up. If my father were still alive I would have asked him.
Still, I would think that if one were to use a police car on off duty time, the activities one would behave in must be of a professional nature.
She is not fit to be a police captain.
“Where I live, they are encouraged to take marked cars and unmarked cars home.”
Does that mean they are allowed to drive them for personal use, on the taxpayers dime? Or just park them at their home?
Yes. And no. Most unmarked police cars I've seen stand out only slightly less than marked police cars. I'm certainly not entirely on her side, but I also find her firing disproportionate - she was not the driver, nor was she responsible for the car.
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