PB council OKs $350,000 settlement of fired chief’s lawsuit

PINE BLUFF — The Pine Bluff City Council voted 7-1 Monday night to approve a $350,000 settlement between the city and former Pine Bluff Police Chief Brenda Davis-Jones, who sued in federal court after being fired in 2013.

Alderman Bill Brumett cast the lone no vote. No discussion was held on the matter.

City representatives and Davis-Jones entered into a day-long mediation Friday in U.S. Magistrate Judge H. David Young’s Little Rock courtroom ahead of a trial that had been scheduled for Monday. Davis-Jones, who is black, claimed in her lawsuit that Mayor Debe Hollingsworth, who is white, fired her “with malice” because of her race on Hollingsworth’s first day of office as Pine Bluff’s mayor in 2013.

Officials with the Arkansas Municipal League, which provides legal assistance and limited coverage for cities that face such lawsuits, said the league will pay 50 percent of the settlement cost.

A phone number listed for the office of Davis-Jones’ attorney, Austin Porter Jr., rang unanswered Monday afternoon. Attempts to reach the former police chief were also unsuccessful.

In her suit, Davis-Jones, 52, asked for her job back, back pay, compensatory damages, punitive damages and legal costs. She was not granted the chief’s position but will receive a letter of recommendation from the city as part of her settlement.

The former chief said she suffered humiliation and mental anguish because of the termination, which her lawsuit claims was “retaliation for having increased the number of African-American officers with the Pine Bluff Police Department.”