Three years after leaving the Chattanooga Police Department, two former deputy chiefs sat before a local jury Tuesday, trying to prove they were pushed out in favor of younger cops.
Chattanooga Mayor Ron Littlefield and police Chief Freeman Cooper are expected to testify today in the ongoing Hamilton County Chancery Court trial in which plaintiffs T.E. “Skip” Vaughn and Charles Cooke allege age discrimination.
Both are seeking unspecified economic damages that include front and back pay, lost benefits and punitive damages for “humiliation and embarrassment.”
At the time of their departures in June 2007, Mr. Vaughn and Mr. Cooke shared the No. 3 position within the department, both serving as deputy chiefs who answered directly to Chief Cooper.
Their court complaint states that Chief Cooper told them that they would have to retire or accept demotions because their positions were being eliminated through budget cuts.
Mr. Vaughn at the time was the oldest, most senior employee on the force, having worked there for more than 36 years. Mr. Cooke had been with the department for more than 27 years.
At the same time, the complaint states, the department hired three new assistant deputies to take their places. All were younger, and at least one made the same salary as Mr. Cooke, according to the complaint.
“I was shocked,” Mr. Cooke told the jury Tuesday while testifying about how he lost his job.
He will be cross-examined today, and Mr. Vaughn also is expected to testify.
Plaintiffs’ attorney Jonathan Guthrie said in his opening statement that “the city’s motivation for eliminating these gentleman’s positions was because of their age and because of their tenure.” He said witnesses and documents would back up the claim.
“The city wanted younger, less-experienced officers in the leadership ranks … and we will show you that that was unlawful age discrimination,” Mr. Guthrie said.
He cautioned the jury that the defense would try to pin the plaintiffs’ departures on “business decisions” that largely had to do with saving money. But he said the city never did a “budgetary analysis” to prove that eliminating the positions would save money.
Defense attorney Mike McMahan discussed business decisions in his opening statement, telling jurors that Chief Cooper agreed to become the head of the department in 2006 only if Mayor Littlefield would allow him to form his own trusted staff.
But Mr. McMahan also characterized Mr. Vaughn and Mr. Cooper as employees who had become liabilities. He said jurors would hear testimony about how Mr. Cooke had earned a reputation as a “cancer” within the department with whom it was difficult to work.
“(Chief Cooper) did not think (Mr. Vaughn and Mr. Cooke) had been loyal to (former Police Chief Steve Parks),” Mr. McMahan told the jury, adding that the two employees didn’t even get along with each other.
THE STORY SO FAR
Former deputy police chiefs T.E. “Skip” Vaughn and Charles Cooke are seeking economic damages in a civil trial this week for what they say was an act of age discrimination when they were forced out of their jobs in June 2007.