A former investigator at the Cleveland agency tasked with reviewing civilian complaints against police officers has filed a lawsuit against the city of Cleveland and his former boss, Marcus Perez, after resigning last year.
David Hammons spent 12 years at the Office of Professional Standards. OPS investigates complaints for the Civilian Police Review Board, or CPRB, which then either dismisses the complaint or recommends discipline to the chief of police or, in the most serious cases, the public safety director.
Since the passage of Issue 24 in 2021, which increased the authority of the Cleveland Community Police Commission over officer discipline, CPRB has also had the authority to overturn the public safety director if they dismiss a recommendation for discipline.
Hammons, a Black man, says he was forced out by OPS Administrator Marcus Perez and the city law department last year because he was critical of city police behavior in several investigations he led between 2020 and 2023, according to the lawsuit.
“The law department began to, through the CPRB as well as Mr. Perez, began to suppress and intimidate investigators, chiefly among them being me,” Hammons said in an interview.
Hammons said the office, which is an independent agency within the city composed of civilian employees, is under pressure from the city law department, which among other things, defends the city when it is sued over allegations of police misconduct.
“The Office of Professional Standards and the Civilian Police Review Board and the Human Resources Department are not independent investigative agencies,” Hammons said in an interview. “They are not independent. They are independent in name only. And it is evidenced by their inability to move on their own without the permission, authority and imprimatur of the law department.”
Hammons's supervisor denies the accusations of discrimination and said the investigations included in the complaint occurred before the supervisor worked at OPS.
Hammons was himself facing discipline and the possibility of being fired before he resigned, and the city plans to fight the lawsuit in court, a city spokesman said.
Allegations of discrimination and a hostile work environment
Hammons alleges Perez named him interim senior investigator, a supervisory position in OPS, on May 2, 2023, but Hammons was never paid the increased salary that went with the promotion. He applied for the position but was eventually passed over, without being interviewed.
According to the lawsuit filed in Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas on Friday, interviews for the position were conducted by Leigh Anderson, head of the city's Police Accountability Team. Perez did not participate, despite OPS's status as an independent agency under the charter overseen solely by the Civilian Police Review Board.
Additionally, Hammons alleges Perez undermined him and told other members that “Dave Hammons was not Senior Investigator Material.”
In an emailed statement, Perez denied the accusations of discrimination in Hammons's lawsuit. He pointed to issues that existed in the office before his arrival in May, 2023, including the lack of a human resources employee within OPS.
"All past allegations of racial discrimination by former OPS employees have been unfounded," Perez said. "The lack of a human resources officer is evident in the false allegations against me over the past 15 months and the toxic work environment cultivated before my arrival, which plagued my first 11 months and still does today."
Hammons was also facing discipline and potential firing before his resignation, according to city spokesperson Tyler Sinclair, who forwarded a notice of a pre-disciplinary hearing dated Oct. 5, 2023.
The notice provides few details of the charges, only that Hammons was charged with improper use of city vehicles, equipment, materials or property, unethical conduct and conduct unbecoming of a city employee.
According to Hammons, the charges were related to the recording of an executive session.
"It’s important to note that [Hammons] — on his own accord — resigned from his position shortly after he received the attached pre-disciplinary notice last October," Sinclair said. "His claims lack veracity and/or are difficult to understand the complete scope of what he alleges."
The notice does provide a "date of incident(s)" of July 11, 2023 and, by early October, Hammons was placed on administrative leave.
"In that window, they managed to investigate misconduct allegations against me but completely ignored my complaint and those of my colleagues," said Hammons.
The lawsuit alleges that OPS was a "hostile work environment" from May, 2023 through May, 2024, and on July 10, 2023, 12 of the 15 OPS staff members gave testimony to the CPRB members during an executive session.
On July 13, 2023, Hammons filed an Equal Employment Opportunity complaint with the city's human resources department, he said.
"Plaintiff’s complaint allegation of being denied Equal Opportunity was never investigated," the lawsuit says.
Investigations under scrutiny
Hammons also cites three high-profile cases in his complaint he investigated that led to his eventual forced resignation. First was the 2019 death of 13-year-old Tamia Chappman following a high-speed vehicle pursuit in East Cleveland.
During his investigation, Hammons found that pursuing officers were traveling at higher speeds than reported and that the internal investigation was improperly assigned to a supervisor who was directly involved in overseeing the pursuit.
The city ultimately cleared officers of most of the charges in 2021.
The federal police monitor would later that year fault the city for an internal investigation “where the result was a foregone conclusion.”
The monitor provides separate police oversight in Cleveland under the 2015 consent decree between the city and the U.S. Justice Department.
Among the issues the monitor raised was a Dec. 20, 2020, news article.
Former Police Chief Calvin Williams and former Public Safety Director Karrie Howard told the Plain Dealer editorial board the chase followed city policy. The monitor faulted department leadership for, among other shortcomings, making those statements before Hammons and OPS had completed their investigation.
The second of Hammons’s investigations cited in the lawsuit was the 2020 killing of Desmond Franklin by an off-duty Cleveland police officer. In 2022, the CPRB voted 4 to 3 to recommend discipline for Officer Jose Garcia for failing to identify himself as a police officer during an encounter with Franklin.
According to the lawsuit, Hammons’s requests for investigatory materials were ignored by the city, prompting him to request intervention from CPRB members.
“Plaintiff was admonished and restricted from contacting the City authority,” the lawsuit alleges. “Plaintiff was concerned about the possibility of retaliation and the restrictions placed on him that have a chilling effect on his ability to conduct the business of the office and the will of the citizens of the City of Cleveland.”
The third case cited in the lawsuit was Hammons’s investigation into former Cleveland police officer Jeffrey Yasenchack.
In July of 2022, the review board recommended discipline against Yasechack for excessive force, lying and retaliation. According to Hammons, the department waited an excessive amount of time before issuing discipline.
Hammons attempted to bring the delay to the board’s attention, and he alerted all board members through email. The lawsuit alleges that Hammons’s attempt to speak at a CPRB meeting and urge them to call on the public safety director to issue discipline was blocked by the law department.
Yasenchack retired before receiving discipline.
In his statement, Perez points out that all three of these cases were ruled on by CPRB before his arrival at OPS.
In his lawsuit, Hammons is seeking financial compensation along with changes at OPS, including the resignation of Perez and the hiring of an attorney to replace the city’s lawyer. Hammons is represented by Isaac Tom Monah.
"The city will defend this case as it progresses through the judicial process," said city spokesman Tyler Sinclair.
