Ms. Maddox states in her suit that she believes Mr. Montanio was fired as a result of the way he forced her out and the way he allegedly behaved in similar situations. The suit charges that the former chief lacked the authority to retire Ms. Maddox.
While another fired officer, Jeff Davila, fights out his case before the Civil Service Commission, Ms. Maddox, a Medal of Valor recipient in 1994, has a different focus.
An African American, she asserted that her dismissal in August of 05 was cooked up by a chief who has a history of making racially derogatory comments about blacks and Hispanics.
Ms. Maddox gave the following chronology of events covering the sharp downhill trajectory of her career during a 10-week period two summers ago.
Having incurred a back injury in the forepart of her career, Ms. Maddox had been assigned to light duty for the three years before the ultimate showdown with Mr. Montanio started in May of 05.
Montanio in a Warding-Off Mode
To round out the contextual picture, Mr. Montanio, barely one year on the job, was engaged in the psychological battle of his life. Among other problems, he was warding off a spray of accusations, the loudest by officer Heidi Keyantash. These stemmed from his behavior on Aug. 7 of 04, the memorable Saturday morning when the son of perhaps his best and surely his most powerful friend, Vice Mayor Albert Vera, was stopped by Culver City cops in the parking lot of Cocos Restaurant and charged with drug possession. Besides Ms. Keyantashs charges of improper behavior by the chief, Mr. Montanio faced other accusations. Mr. Veras colleagues on the City Council, for example, were not informed of the incident until a month later, setting off another furor. Mr. Montanio, however, was cleared of specific wrongdoing by the District Attorneys office.
Was She Given No Alternative?
In the late spring of 05, Ms. Maddox said Mr. Montanio informed her that he was tired of accommodating her back condition, He implied she was receiving preferential treatment that was unfair to her co-workers. The chief said he was assigning her, herewith, to patrol duty. She was working with the county-wide drug-enforcement co-op known as L.A. Impact. If she didnt like the change, Ms. Maddox claims she was told, she could leave, possibly by pursuing a disability retirement. Ms. Maddoxs lawyers say state law does not permit an employee to be treated in that manner. On May 29, she applied for medical retirement from the Police Dept. Two months later, on July 25, she received a Personnel Action form from the city, indicating that she was classified as industrially retired as of Aug. 1. Ms. Maddoxs husband and department colleague Lt. Chris Maddox carried a message from the chief to his wife. He said the chief told him she should keep working past Aug. 1 because her retirement application had not yet been completely processed.
A Slight Accident
Two days later, on Aug. 3, however, Ms. Maddox was involved in a fender-bender accident with a city car. She says Lt. Ron Izuka called her a few hours later on orders from the chief. Ms. Maddox said Lt. Izuka informed her he had three directions from the chief. She was to surrender her Police Dept. paraphernalia immediately, she said. The chief would send someone to drive the city car back to the Police Dept. on Duquesne Avenue shortly, and that she was industrially retired as of this date, Aug. 3.
Doctor Visit a Setup?
With Ms. Maddoxs intended disability retirement lagging in limbo, on a day in October about the time Mr. Montanio made his own stunning retirement announcement she was sent to Gary Brazina, a Wilshire Boulevard doctor well known by police officers with medical conditions. Ms. Maddoxs visit to his office was a setup, her lawyers charge. They say Dr. Brazina conducted a cursory 20-minute exam. Then, they allege, Dr. Brazina accused her of being a malingerer who was utterly healthy. The following month, on Nov. 30, the city denied Ms. Maddoxs disability claim. At the same time, the city certified falsely, she claims that she voluntarily resigned from the Police Dept.
Two Incidents
To buttress the bias claims against Mr. Montanio, Joseph P. Scully, Ms. Maddoxs attorney, described one scenario related by his client. Assertedly, the police chief was in the midst of scolding Lt. Christopher Gutierrez when he sought to underscore a point. I am not just some nigger on the street, Mr. Montanio allegedly said. On another day in a staff meeting, Mr. Montanio was accused of offering officers a certain remedy if they had trouble convincing Hispanic suspects to talk. The former chief is alleged to have suggested that officers should threaten to call the Dept. of Child and Family Services, which might remove a suspects children from the family home.
Postscript
This, says Ms. Maddox, is the kind of environment she worked in during her 15 years with the Culver City department. Injured in a car accident early in her career, in 1992, she said that she was encouraged to file for a disability retirement three years later. She declined. But supposedly this would not be the last time her bosses would urge her to go away.
