Nearly eight years ago, then-Cleveland, Tenn., detective Duff Brumley asked an area pharmacist to look into allegations that a Drug Task Force leader was abusing narcotics. But his search turned up nothing conclusive. And shortly after, in August 2010, the city fired Brumley for accessing information outside the chain of command and for failing to document his investigation, court records show.
The nearly two-decade veteran of the Cleveland Police Department, however, says he was experiencing retaliation for reporting various officials’ behavior over the years, and through his attorneys, Brumley got to start telling his side of the story at trial Tuesday in Hamilton County Circuit Court. Judge Kyle Hedrick, of Chattanooga, will oversee the proceedings since the judges in Bradley County recused themselves from Brumley’s 2011 lawsuit.
Duff Brumley, a former Cleveland Police Department detective, testifies in this 2011 file photo.Though attorneys for the city of Cleveland say Brumley misused department policy by accessing and then sharing personal information with the pharmacist, Brumley’s attorney, Gerald Tidwell, said other officers in the department had been accused of “far more serious” behavior and weren’t terminated until their behavior became public years later. Tidwell was referencing a 2008 meeting during which a few officers were warned against dating minors, snorting crushed prescription pills and viewing porn on department cellphones. Two of those officers were later prosecuted for sex crimes with the teenage girls.
Through several witnesses Monday, Tidwell painted a picture of a divided police department, led by then-Chief Wes Snyder.
According to trial testimony, Brumley said his problems with Snyder began after Brumley backed Steve Bebb in his 2006 bid for district attorney general in the 10th Judicial District. After Brumley made multiple calls to a woman inviting her to a Bebb victory party, she complained, court records show. Snyder then directed a harassment investigation be conducted by the city, although the incident occurred outside Cleveland, and ordered an officer to issue Brumley a citation.