SCS defeats reverse-discrimination lawsuit
2 ex-Memphis City Schools security officers alleged they were fired because they’re white
A federal judge ruled in favor of Shelby County Schools this week in a case where two security officers claimed they were fired from the school district because they are white.
U.S. District judge Sheryl Lipman ruled the two men, Henry Todd and Richard Pinner, used excessive force against a student at Northwest Prep Academy in February 2013, justifying their termination.
The officers worked for Memphis City Schools at the time, but with the merger with the county school district later that year, SCS became the defendant in the case.
“Despite extensive training with MCS that verbal altercations do not warrant use of force, Plaintiffs used physical force and ultimately arrested a minor high school student because she was ‘yelling and cussing,’ ” the judge’s decision said. “Under MCS policy, Plaintiffs’ actions constituted excessive force under circumstances where no physical force was necessary or appropriate.”
Ralph Gibson, the attorney representing Todd and Pinner, said Wednesday he hadn’t spoken to his clients about the ruling handed down Tuesday, and had no comment. The former officers have 30 days to appeal.
The case went to trial for two days in August. The men alleged they were “members of a protected class consisting of members of the white race,” their lawsuit said. Gibson said at the time legal precedent states white people can be considered a protected class if they are surrounded mostly by non-white people. According to the complaint, there were only 10 white officers on the city school system’s security staff of 80.
The judge noted they met the burden of proof for that claim, but ruled they didn’t prove their firing was unjust.
Todd and Pinner claimed they used reasonable force against a 17-year-old female African-American student who entered the school building “in a belligerent manner using vile language” and Todd restrained her. She was suspended and left the building, the lawsuit stated,
but returned asking for a bus pass. While waiting, she allegedly “again became violent” before Pinner attempted to handcuff her.
School security video appears to show the student eating a snack before Pinner tries to handcuff her.
The judge noted in her verdict that the men testified they “considered their role at the school to be the same as the role they had in their decades of previous police experience, rather than one modified due to the setting and nature of a school. Plaintiffs fail to realize that what is appropriate as a municipal or county police officer was not appropriate under the policies applicable to mobile security officers in school settings, where their primary job was to protect the safety of the children attending school.”
The officers were initially suspended with pay and then fired the following business day.
SCS Chief Counsel Rodney Moore, who was aided in the case by attorneys from Mintz Levin, said in a statement the trial team “did an outstanding job articulating the importance of school districts acting decisively to protect students from being subjected to excessive force.”
Reach Jennifer Pignolet at jennifer.pignolet@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter @JenPignolet.