Recently-fired Charleston police chief Luther Folson Jr. is suing the city and demanding a jury trial, saying his dismissal was “premeditated because of personal reasons and not factual evidence.”
Named as defendants in the civil suit, filed Sept. 15 in the First Judicial District of Tallahatchie County Circuit Court, are the city of Charleston, Mayor Sedrick Smith and all five members of the city’s Board of Commissioners: Ward 1’s Gyrone Kenniel, Ward 2’s Lloyd C. Smith, Ward 3’s Tawanda Shannon, Ward 4’s Sandy Smith and Ward 5’s Perry Herron.
The defendants were served notice of the lawsuit last week. They have 30 days from the date they received the court summons in which to file a response with the circuit clerk’s office in Charleston.
Folson’s four-page lawsuit charges that his Sept. 5 termination was executed “under false pretenses” and with “made up allegations.”
The court filing is particularly critical of Sandy Smith, the first-term commissioner whose counterparts on the city board appointed to the role of police commissioner, to serve as the official liaison between city government and its police force.
“The Charleston Police Department was running smoothly up until the time that Commissioner Sandy Smith was elected,” Folson’s suit states. “At that time, two of the police officers started undermining my authority after talking with Sandy Smith.”
Folson further alleges that Sandy Smith “went outside of her scope of commissioner to interfere with daily police department operations.”
Folson claims that he “upheld the most professional conduct in supervising the officers of the Charleston Police Department” and was open to communicating with commissioners.
“However, the commissioners were not willing and open to communicate,” he charges. “Commissioner Sandy Smith was the only one communicating and she only did so to try to step over her boundaries with the Charleston Police Department.”
Contacted by The Sun-Sentinel on Tuesday, Sandy Smith declined to comment.
Folson’s suit calls his firing an “unjust act” that “has done substantial damage to his life and family,” including “anxiety and stress, harassment, humiliation and lost income and benefits.” He says he has incurred “significant legal fees” in the matter.
Folson’s suit is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, back pay, front pay and lost benefits, all “in an amount to be determined by the court.” The ex-chief also is asking to be reinstated to his former position and to be paid reasonable attorney’s fees and costs of court.
Folson, of Water Valley, had been employed with the Charleston Police Department since November 2015. He was the successful one of several city patrolmen considered for promotion to chief when longtime top cop John Page announced that he was retiring from the force at the end of 2016.
Folson was approved for the chief’s job in November 2016 by a unanimous vote of the city board. He assumed the role on Jan. 1.
When four new city board members were sworn in for a new term starting in early July, the police chief’s position apparently became a topic of increased interest.
During an unusual noontime special meeting of the board on Aug. 31, commissioners voted to place Folson on paid suspension and to inform him of a Sept. 5 disciplinary hearing to be held at Charleston City Hall.
On Sept. 1, the mayor termed Folson’s situation as “something we had been working on for several board meetings and it just came to a head.”
At the Sept. 5 hearing, Folson met with the board behind closed doors.
Following that exchange, the board voted unanimously, on a motion by Tawanda Shannon and a second by Sandy Smith, to terminate Folson’s employment, effective immediately.
The letter of termination, a copy of which was obtained by The Sun-Sentinel, referenced, but did not list, “various allegations” against Folson.
Of his firing, the letter stated simply, “The board felt that the direction of the department needed to change.”
