Axed Georgia police chief claims he was fired because he’s white
The former police chief of an Atlanta suburb claims in a new lawsuit that he was terminated two years ago because he’s white.
Dwayne Hobbs claims he was fired in October 2018 because the Forest Park City Council wanted a Black chief to head up the department in the majority Black city, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported, citing the complaint filed in federal court.
The new suit is the latest twist in an ongoing public feud involving allegations Hobbs surveilled city council members and mismanaged the department during his tenure.
“Let me be very clear, the allegation is an absolute, complete and utter farce,” Mayor Angelyne Butler told The Journal-Constitution in an email.
Hobbs' attorney Lance LoRusso reportedly declined to single out any council members by name but highlighted the fact Capt. Jason Armstrong, the interim chief chosen by city leaders to replace Hobbs, is Black.
Armstrong was later replaced by current Chief Nathaniel Clark, who also is Black.
Hobbs was terminated after City Council members Dabouze Antoine, Latresa Akins-Wells and Kimberly James voted in favor of his dismissal.
“We never said we wanted a Black chief,” Akins-Wells told the Journal-Constitution. “We did a national search so we didn’t know what color they would be. We just knew it was time for a change.”
After the change, officials oversaw an audit of how the department operated under Hobbs.
In October 2019, city leaders said members of the police department’s VIPER Squad followed, monitored and photographed council members Akins-Wells and Antoine, who are Black.
“My heart is hurting so bad right now and I feel so violated! I found out just now by our new chief and our city attorney that for three years Chief Hobbs had someone following me around, had cameras placed on a pole to watch my house, had my trash stolen so that they could go through it,” Akins-Wells said in a Facebook post last October
“I was discriminated against,” she said.
Police officials said no evidence was collected to implicate the council members in any misconduct, but other findings raise suspicions about finances at the department when Hobbs was in charge, according to The Journal-Constitution.
The department turned over its findings to the Clayton County District Attorney’s Office in May, the newspaper reported. Prosecutors have not announced a charging decision.
