A Hamilton County jury is deliberating this morning over whether the Chattanooga Police Department owes money to two former deputies for allegedly pushing them out because of their age.
The age discrimination lawsuit brought by former deputy police chiefs T.E. “Skip” Vaughn and Charles Cooke, who held the two highest positions in the department in 2007 and answered directly to Chief Freeman Cooper, lasted through five days of testimony. Lawyers for the plaintiffs and the city of Chattanooga made their closing arguments this morning.
The men are seeking back pay as well as $75,000 each for embarrassment and public humiliation. According to their claims, the police department pushed them out by forcing them to either retire, take demotions to the rank of captain or accept civil jobs in another city department. Both men refused the offers.
The city consistently has claimed that it eliminated the positions of Mr. Vaughn and Mr. Cooke because of “budgetary reasons.” The city never presented any evidence of budgetary studies and hired three people to replace the two men at a higher overall cost.
All three replacements were slightly younger than Mr. Vaughn, who was 59 at the time of his departure, and Mr. Cooke, who was 49.
For complete details, see tomorrow’s Chattanooga Times Free Press.