Greene sues Portsmouth over her firing
Ex-chief defends arresting a slew of top Black officials
Angela Greene, who was fired last year as Portsmouth police chief after approving criminal charges against a slew of high-profile Black officials — allegations that were later dismissed — filed a long-expected lawsuit against the city Friday. She alleges she was wrongly fired and that multiple officials defamed her in public comments.
Greene alleges then-city manager Lydia Pettis Patton and then-city attorney Solomon Ashby illegally ordered her to stop officers from investigating in the aftermath of a protest and vandalism at the downtown Confederate monument in June 2020, according to the lawsuit, which was first reported by WVEC.
Police ultimately filed felony charges in August against state Sen. Louise Lucas, NAACP leaders and other public officials. Among other things, the charges alleged Lucas was responsible for the damage to the monument because she told Greene the city manager said officers should let people drape and spray paint it. However, Lucas had left hours before the monument was beheaded and partially toppled.
Greene and her defenders said the charges were simply a matter of enforcing the law — an argument she repeats in the lawsuit.
But many in Portsmouth’s Black community and beyond called the timing suspicious and suggested it was retaliation for Lucas speaking out in favor of police reforms.
“It’ s deeply troubling that on the verge of Virginia passing long-overdue police reform, the first Black woman to serve as our Senate (president) Pro Tempore is suddenly facing highly unusual charges,” Gov. Ralph Northam said after the charges were announced.
Pettis Patton suspended Greene on Sept. 4. In an email, which is included in the lawsuit, Pettis Patton said she grew “increasingly concerned” with Greene’s decision-making, actions and behavior and questioned her ability to meet job expectations.
Days later, Pettis Patton resigned. The City Council also fired Ashby, signaling that Pettis Patton may have resigned to avoid being fired.
LaVoris Pace, the interim city manager, informed Greene on Oct. 8 that she was under administrative investigation. He repeated Pettis Patton’s concerns and said the investigation would consider policies related to standards of conduct, media contact, social media and use of information technology. He did not describe how Greene may have violated policies in the email.
In November, Portsmouth Commonwealth’s Attorney Stephanie Morales moved to dismiss charges against Lucas and the other defendants who’d been accused by city police. Morales said an investigation found the charges could not be proven, and a judge threw them out.
Shortly after, Pace fired Greene.
The firing notice is included in the lawsuit and says Greene is an at-will employee, but doesn’t include any specific reasons.
“Following a review of your performance, decision making and policy compliance in the last few months, I have concluded that it is in the best interest of the city, and in particular, in the best interest of the city’s police department, that your employment as Chief of Police be terminated,” Pace told Greene in an email.
Greene’s lawsuit says she was fired “without good cause whatsoever and without misconduct.” It argues that while the police chief reports administratively to the city manager, the manager does not supervise police policy, actions or decision, so any directives regarding the monument incident were unlawful and conflicted with Greene’s duty to uphold the law. She argues that Pace fired her in retaliation for refusing to follow Patton’s orders.
Pace and the city declined to comment on the 43-page lawsuit, which names as defendants the city, Pettis Patton, Pace, Ashby, Lucas, Councilwoman Lisa LucasBurke (who is Lucas’ daughter) and the Rev. Milton Blount, president of the Martin Luther King Jr. Leadership Steering Committee, an influential civic group in the city.
The complaint says
Greene has suffered “loss of reputation, humiliation, embarrassment, loss of income, loss of benefits, esteem in the community, emotional hardship, mental anguish, pain and suffering” and seeks millions in damages, though amounts requested in complaints have little legal relevance and actual settlements or jury awards, if any, are often far lower.
Blount is the only person included in the lawsuit who is not an elected official or city employee. The lawsuit alleges Blount defamed Greene in a letter he wrote to the City Council that calls for Greene’s firing, claiming she “ignored conflict of interest, displayed a dereliction of duty, falsified information and/or withheld critical information.”
Greene alleges in the complaint that several people defamed her after the criminal charges were filed by, among other things, calling her actions racist and disobeyed her boss, the city manager.
“The allegations of racism against Greene are especially defamatory as Greene is African American,” the lawsuit says.
The filing was expected; Greene sent a required notice of intent to sue in December. In the meantime, Greene was recently hired as police chief in the western Virginia city of Lexington.