A veteran D.C. police captain recently placed on leave after an internal investigation has filed a $100 million lawsuit against the department, accusing his bosses of retaliation for whistle-blowing.
In documents filed in federal court last week, Capt. Melvin Gresham, a 3rd Police District patrol supervisor with 23 years on the job, describes a police management team rife with corruption, where good officers are run out of the workplace and bad cops get promoted. “The department is broken,” said Gresham’s attorney E. Scott Frison. “It’s scary to have people running the department with badges, guns and authority who themselves should be under investigation.”
A spokesman for the D.C. Office of the Attorney General had not seen the lawsuit late Monday and couldn’t comment.
Gresham was placed on administrative leave earlier this year after he was involved in an auto crash and is accused of bullying the investigating officer into blaming a bus driver.
An internal affairs investigation found that Gresham’s “demeanor and subsequent confrontation with the reporting officer was intimidating and may have jeopardized the impartiality of the accident investigation.” The investigator recommended a reprimand letter be placed in his personnel file, but her superior recommended that Gresham be suspended.
Gresham remains on leave, officials said.
In the suit, Gresham accuses Police Chief Cathy Lanier of authorizing trumped-up charges against him. Lanier did not return phone calls Monday.
In the 68 pages of court filings, Gresham details charges of official wrongdoing.
In one case, Gresham said an assistant chief ordered him to participate in a scheme to get rid of a precinct commander.
In another case, beginning in 2004, Gresham said he refused to help drive out a police lieutenant who complained about being sexually assaulted by her boss.
An internal investigation substantiated her complaints, but she continued to be targeted for retaliation, according to the lawsuit.
Gresham later witnessed an assault on the female lieutenant, but was barred from arresting the abusive police officer, court documents state. In October, Gresham said, two attorneys for the District of Columbia attempted to bribe him so he would change his testimony, the suit states.
