Lawsuits filed by Seattle police officers under scrutiny

SEATTLE - Adrian Diaz was pushed out as Seattle police chief in part due to explosive accusations of gender discrimination and sexual harassment detailed in an April civil complaint.

But a FOX 13 Seattle investigation uncovered information that casts doubt on some of the allegations in the complaint.

Officer Valerie Carson is one of four female officers who lodged the complaint against the city of Seattle and Seattle Police Department (SPD) seeking $5 million in damages.

Among other things, Carson alleged Diaz would walk into her cubicle without warning because she believed he wanted to see her change clothes.

One section of the complaint reads:

"The entire staff, including Chief Diaz, knew Ms. Carson changed out of her clothes on a regular basis. All other officers would alert Ms. Carson before walking by the cubicle to make sure they did not catch her changing."

There is no allegation that Diaz actually saw Carson change, and the complaint stated, "there was no changing room for women on this floor."

But four different sources say there are bathrooms for both men and women to privately change on multiple floors of SPD’s headquarters, including the floor of Public Affairs where Carson worked for years.

FOX 13 Seattle sources opined that it’s "ridiculous" that anyone would change their clothes in an open office cubicle to begin with when there was a bathroom available for that purpose.

Source provided image of Carson’s old cubicle at Public Affairs.

The other officers in the complaint are Officer Kame Spencer, Officer Judinna Gulpan and Lt. Lauren Truscott. They allege sexual harassment, gender discrimination and hostile work environment, but Carson is the only one who claimed Diaz wanted to have a romantic relationship with her.

In one incident, Carson says Diaz asked her to drive him around on New Year’s Eve, one of the busiest nights in the city. She says it was odd he wanted to do this without a security detail and was "afraid that the Chief would perhaps make an advance at midnight when people traditionally share a kiss to bring in the new year."

About a month after those accusations went public, Mayor Bruce Harrell reassigned Diaz, calling all the accusations a "distraction." Despite his removal as chief, Harrell called Diaz a good man and praised his accomplishments.

In June, Diaz revealed for the first time publicly that he was gay during an interview with KTTH radio host Jason Rantz.

After that, the four women filed their lawsuit after the city of Seattle did not settle during the pre-litigation settlement period. The lawsuit alleged that Diaz’s sexual orientation or intent is inconsequential. It said an "employee’s impression of the advances by a supervisor must be considered."

FOX 13 Seattle could not find any internal HR complaints of sexual harassment filed by Carson against Diaz prior to the lawsuit. But she requested multiple investigations against her own direct supervisor, Lt. John O’Neil, who she claimed bullied her with Diaz’s blessing.

In fact, many of the allegations in the lawsuit center around O’Neil, a 20-year veteran of SPD. O’Neil’s record for the first 17 years at SPD was clean of any Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) accusations. That changed in 2022 when the first EEO complaint was filed by Officer Kame Spencer accusing O’Neil of discrimination and harassment.

Despite multiple investigations that eventually cleared O’Neil of the allegations, the four officers in the lawsuit alleged that Diaz was guilty of gender discrimination and sexual harassment in part because Diaz supported and promoted O’Neil. They also accused SPD Human Resources Manager Rebecca McKechnie of siding with O’Neil and ‘victim shaming.’

A thorough review of the timeline of events reveals a possible motive for the claims made against O’Neil by the plaintiffs in the lawsuit: revenge.

Spencer filed racism complaints against O’Neil, who is Black, for taking down pictures of white K-9 officers in his own office.

O’Neil told investigators that he thought the accusations were a joke at first, and he was in disbelief. O’Neil argued to investigators that Spencer was trying to get him removed as the K-9 supervisor because he took away Officer Anthony Ducre’s authority to train K-9 officers, which included Spencer at the time.

O’Neil pleaded with the Office of Police Accountability (OPA) for intervention in what he called retaliation. (OPA is an independent office within the city that investigates police misconduct.) OPA did not open an investigation into O’Neil’s complaints against Ducre and Spencer in 2022.

Weeks after Spencer’s racism complaint against O’Neil, SPD leadership removed O’Neil as the K-9 supervisor without cause and placed him in another unit.

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Seattle police lieutenant hit with retaliation after enforcing accountability

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Seattle police lieutenant hit with retaliation after enforcing accountability

High-ranking Seattle police officer, Lt. John O’Neil, subject to numerous complaints and a $5 million tort claim, appears to be a victim of workplace retaliation, according to a FOX 13 Seattle investigation.

Diaz tells Lt. O’Neil to fix the Public Affairs Department, go in a new direction

Sometime after his reassignment from the K-9 unit and his experiences with Spencer, Diaz tapped O’Neil to run the Public Affairs unit and make significant changes. Multiple sources told FOX 13 Seattle that Diaz had concerns the team was not responding to media inquiries and failed to show up to big crime scenes. He also directed the unit to be more proactive and show the good work of officers responding to emergency calls. That required Public Affairs to look through body cam videos to share at least one incident per week with the public.

In documents obtained by FOX 13 Seattle, O’Neil wrote "Public Affairs staff have been instructed to do interviews whenever possible and feasible."

O’Neil told OPA that he got instant push back from men and women in the unit because they did not want to implement any of Diaz’s changes.

O’Neil told OPA that Carson directly told him she was mad at Diaz and hated what the Chief was doing. O’Neil says Carson made it clear they were the experts in Public Affairs, not Diaz.

He told OPA that Carson would respond late to his emails and texts, or not at all, when she was the on-call Public Information Officer. When she didn’t respond to a murder scene, O’Neil texted her in January 2023:

O’Neil: "I have noticed over the past few days, at times, you do not respond [to] my texts or emails in a timely fashion, if at all. Is there a reason for this?"

Carson: "What did you need a response on? I slept through all the shooting stuff this morning so it was handled by the time I woke up."

The tipping point happened in February 2023 when Carson wrote a post on SPD’s blotter, a platform that SPD uses to communicate with and update the public about crime and other relevant stories.

Following up on Carson’s post, a FOX 13 Seattle reporter requested an on-camera interview for more information.

O’Neil says Carson came into work hours late and refused to grant the interview to FOX 13 Seattle. O’Neil filed an insubordination complaint against Carson to OPA after the incident.

He told OPA that Carson confronted him angrily with "I am not doing any interviews today."

O’Neil said he sent Carson home because of her combative behavior.

"Public Affairs represents the face of the department. I could not have a combative employee addressing the public via emails, interviews or any other type of communication," O’Neil said.

During an interview with SPD HR manager Rebecca McKechnie, Carson also said Public Affairs historically got to pick and choose the reporters they would grant interviews to.

The day after Carson was sent home, internal documents show she went on leave.

Carson would later file a complaint with SPD Equal Employment Opportunity Office and OPA accusing O’Neil of retaliating against her for taking medical leave by filing an insubordination complaint against her about an hour after she informed them about taking leave.

SPD lieutenant faces retaliation after forcing accountability

Lt. John O’Neil, a 20-year veteran of SPD, has been cleared in multiple investigations since 2023. The complaints alleged sexual harassment, racism and gender discrimination.

McKechnie and OPA each conducted separate investigations into Carson’s accusations of retaliation. Both investigations concluded that O’Neil did not retaliate against Carson for taking leave.

The OPA summary reads in part: "Interview and emails showed [O’Neil], intended to file an OPA complaint against [Carson] before he had knowledge of her medical leave."

Notwithstanding that OPA and SPD HR concluded that O’Neil did not retaliate against Carson for taking leave, the lawsuit includes the allegation as the basis for Carson’s disability discrimination claim.

As for O’Neil’s insubordination complaint against Carson, OPA recommended "Supervisory Action" for Carson, which just tossed the issue back to SPD.

In response, former Strategic Communications Director Amy Clancy, O’Neil’s supervisor at the time, asked OPA to look into the matter further.

In March 2023, Clancy wrote in part:

"I am very concerned that if there is no discipline related to Sgt O’Neil’s filed complaint, the insubordination will only continue in the office, making it nearly impossible for him to lead. He is an excellent leader, and has always deserved the support of his people."

Almost a year later, O’Neil’s new supervisor, Jamie Tompkins, wrote to OPA and the Office of Inspector General (OIG), an independent civilian-led body that oversees SPD policies and practices.

Tompkins requested intervention and accountability, saying O’Neil was under attack.

Tompkins’ March 2024 email read in part:

"As commander of our Public Affairs Unit, he is forced to battle people within the department, who heatedly oppose the important work the Chief has assigned him, all because it doesn’t fit their agenda, and it doesn’t help their narrative …"When a supervisor takes appropriate action to hold an employee accountable, they retaliate by filing an EEO complaint or an OPA complaint … or both."

OPA and OIG never responded to Tompkins.

The pattern of retaliation against O’Neil continued

After Carson, the pattern continued with Officer Judinna Gulpan. O’Neil filed insubordination complaints to OPA about Gulpan claiming she argued about responding to crime scenes and did not follow instructions when told to post stories on the SPD blotter. O’Neil said Gulpan would also publish stories on the blotter without supervisor approval.

FOX 13 Seattle obtained multiple text messages between O’Neil and Gulpan from 2023.

In June, Gulpan apologized to O’Neil over text.

"Thank you John for taking the time to speak with me. I really do appreciate it. I know I haven’t made it easy for you recently and I apologize. I am trying to see the bigger picture and take a step back."

In December 2023, O’Neil texted Gulpan to remind her that she had been told multiple times not to "jump chain of command."

Gulpan texted back requesting a meeting for "guidance" to "improve her communication."

But now the plaintiffs’ lawsuit claims that same meeting that was scheduled to provide her with guidance was an incident of harassment. Gulpan alleged that HR manager McKechnie, with O’Neil present, told her to look at O’Neil as a "piece of meat," and that she needed to be "like a puppy" to anticipate O’Neil’s needs so she could get "fed" by him.

However, FOX 13 Seattle obtained multiple emails written by McKechnie immediately after that meeting which paint a very different picture of how the meeting went.

"The meeting with Officer Gulpan today went very well, and she owned her behavior and was accepting of the advice and instruction," McKechnie wrote.

McKechnie wrote that Gulpan was given a memo outlining behaviors that did not meet expectations.

"One issue that Officer Gulpan has is communicating respectfully and courteously with her team members." The same email goes on to say: "She stated in the meeting yesterday, that she believes that this occurs at times she is feeling stressed."

Several weeks after that meeting, Gulpan filed sexual harassment complaints against O’Neil. She claimed she was sexually harassed between September 2022 and February 2024. "When he repeatedly made unwelcome and inappropriate remarks of a sexual nature to her during conversations with him …"

She also accused O’Neil of not promoting her because she was a woman and unjustly complaining about her performance because of her gender.

The city’s Human Resources Investigations Unit (HRIU) is currently investigating Gulpan’s allegations against O’Neil. A decision is still pending.

One of Gulpan’s sexual harassment claims to HRIU centers around a trip in 2022. A group of SPD officers went to Las Vegas and that is when Gulpan alleged she heard about a conversation where O’Neil bragged to other male officers that he was good at sex.

"That is a bold-face lie, never said anything like that, she is making that stuff up, never ever have I ever said anything," O’Neil told investigators.

O’Neil told investigators that he invited a group of SPD officers for an annual trip. He says that year he invited Gulpan and the person she was dating at the time. He says Gulpan chose to come to Vegas by herself. He emphasized to investigators that they were just friends and that he had never said anything sexually inappropriate to her at any point.

"I am just flabbergasted that all she has to do is hide behind an EEO complaint that it’s my fault, and no one is going to investigate her for dishonesty. This is pure dishonesty with witnesses."

During much of the same time that Gulpan now claims O’Neil sexually harassed her, she invited O’Neil to meet her at Joey’s Bar. FOX 13 Seattle has obtained texts from 2023 that show Gulpan asking O’Neil to meet her at the Seattle bar on four separate occasions.

Since 2023, at least six internal investigations launched against O’Neil by Officers Carson, Spencer, Ducre and Lt. Truscott have been completed in O’Neil’s favor. The investigations concluded that the facts and evidence did not support allegations of retaliation, racism, sexual harassment and gender discrimination.

FOX 13 Seattle reached out to Attorney Sumeer Singla who represents the four plaintiffs in the lawsuit several weeks ago. When asked about internal investigations supporting O’Neil, Singla pointed out that O’Neil’s insubordination complaint against Gulpan also came back unfounded. Singla believes that O’Neil is the one harassing and retaliating against his clients. He shared several documents dated this year that named O’Neil as the complainant accusing his clients of various offenses. But FOX 13 Seattle has learned O’Neil personally did not file the complaints this year; someone else did on his behalf. It is unclear who is behind the official OPA filings.