Seattle’s embattled police chief has been removed from his post, Mayor Bruce Harrell said Wednesday, just days after an assistant police chief was placed on leave and amid lawsuits from at least six officers alleging discrimination against women and people of color.
Harrell said Chief Adrian Diaz has been replaced in the interim by Sue Rahr, a former sheriff of King County, where Seattle is located. Rahr most recently led the state’s police academy. She will not be considered as a permanent replacement, Harrell said, and Diaz will be reassigned to work on “special assignments.”
At a news conference Wednesday to make the announcement, Harrell praised Diaz as a friend with “integrity beyond reproach.”
“We are now looking at the internal culture, of course, at the police department,” Harrell said. “We are trying to create a representative department of who we are at our best.”
He also said Diaz had realized that the kind of culture change the department wants could be better achieved with his stepping aside.
Harrell said recent allegations of discrimination, harassment and prejudice had led him to appoint an independent investigator to review the allegations.
Last week, Eric Greening, a 30-year veteran of the force, sued Diaz, alleging he had retaliated against him after he reported discriminatory practices within the department. Greening’s suit, filed in King County Superior Court, also names the city as a defendant. Greening alleges Diaz rejected his application to be deputy chief and his bid to reapply to be an assistant chief, demoted him to the rank of captain and abolished the Collaborative Policing Bureau, which he led.
In response to the suit, Diaz’s attorney said in a statement before his dismissal: “Chief Diaz is confident that an objective review of the circ*mstances underlying Mr. Greening’s claims will show the department’s actions were appropriate.”
Last month, four female officers filed a tort claim for $5 million alleging they have been and are subjected to sex discrimination, sexual harassment and a hostile work environment. The claim was filed against the city and its police department on behalf of Kame Spencer, Judinna (Jean) Gulpan, Valerie Carsonand Lauren Truscott on April 25. It lists Diaz, Lt. John O’Neil and human resource manager Rebecca McKechnie as “primary perpetrators.”
The police department said it does not comment on pending litigation. The City Attorney’s Office said it does not comment on pending claims or litigation. O’Neil and McKechnie did not immediately reply to requests for comment.
“As a Hispanic American with decades of experience in law enforcement, Chief Diaz has faced significant discrimination throughout his career,” Diaz's attorney, Ted Buck, said in a statement last month. “He well understands the negative impact it can have both personally and professionally.”
Based on that experience, Buck said, Diaz has confronted discrimination head-on as chief and is proud of the department’s record in addressing and overcoming inherent racism and sexism during his tenure.
The city has 60 days to respond to the tortclaim filed by the four officers.
Sumeer Singla, the attorney for the four women, said in an interview Thursday that Diaz’s dismissal further legitimizes their claim. Singla said that the day after it was filed, the police department insinuated in a statement that his clients were liars who had individual grievances that were driving media headlines.
“Fast-forward 30 days later, the chief of police is being reassigned,” he said. “It’s hard for one not to think that the actions by the mayor is adding legitimacyto my clients’ claims.”
Singla added: “This department has not been repaired or healed from the ills that were lodged against it during the consent decree,” referring to a federal consent decree Seattle was placed under in 2012 after police shot and killed John Williams in 2010. A federal judge ended most of the consent decree provisions last year.
The city also faces a lawsuit from Denise “Cookie” Bouldin, one of the first African American women to join the department in the 1970s. She alleges in a suit filed in November that she both witnessed and endured decades of racist treatment and gender bias from her superiors and other officers.
“She files this claim for damages in the hopes that the department will authentically address issues related to the racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination she has faced during her career,” her lawsuit says. The suit does not refer to Diaz.
Another woman, Deanna Nollette, a 27-year veteran of the force who rose to the rank of assistant chief in 2018, sued Diaz and the police department in January alleging gender, wage and job discrimination. Nollette’s suit says she was the assistant chief of the criminal investigations bureau last year. It alleges Diaz “is demeaning to women in the police force” and “has a history of misogyny.” The suit says that she had applied for the chief’s job, which Diaz had held on an interim basis, and that when he was appointed chief, he demoted her to captain.
Diaz’s attorney said that his client “was disappointed a routine personnel decision had led to these demonstrably false claims” and that the facts would show the allegations to be wholly unfounded.
At Wednesday’s news conference, Diaz choked back tears as he read a brief statement.
“I’ve accomplished so much in the four years as chief, but there’s more to be done,” he said.
Diaz’s dismissal follows last week’s announcement that Assistant Chief Tyrone Davis had been placed on administrative leave.
A representative from the Office of Police Accountability, an independent agency run by civilians, confirmed Thursday that it had received a complaint about Davis on May 8 and subsequently launched an investigation. A representative from the agency said he could not comment further. Davis commands the department’s Special Operations Bureau, which includes its SWAT team. He did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Diaz took over as interim chief in 2020 after Carmen Best resigned following a summer of demonstrations over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the City Council approved reducing the department. He was appointed to lead the department in 2022.
Harrell said he was intentionally looking outside the department for the next chief “to perhaps tap some of the talent in other cities.”
He said he hoped to hire a new chief within six months.
