ST. CHARLES COUNTY, Mo. — Black officers routinely passed over for promotions.
Non-union officers getting passes on allegations of sexual assault, misconduct and DWIs.
And county administration and police leaders preventing a well-connected county employee’s relative from being arrested and charged with two felonies following a car accident.
These are among the allegations contained within three lawsuits filed in recent weeks by three past and present St. Charles County police officers.
The lawsuits are just the latest in a string of legal action to hit the county.
In September 2020, 5 On Your Side reported two county attorneys alleged in lawsuits former Chief David Todd sexually harassed them and the county administration ignored their complaints.
The St. Charles County Counselor’s office responded to the allegations within the most recent lawsuits with a statement, which read:
“The county is aware of the plaintiffs’ allegations and has filed motions to dismiss as well as moved to strike many of the false allegations. The allegations are based on rumor and innuendo with the hopes of sullying the reputation of the defendants and unrelated parties, and to poison the general public’s perception of St. Charles County government. The county looks forward to vigorously defending these lawsuits in court.”
It continued: “With respect to the specific allegation of an alleged ‘cover up’ of a crime by the relative of a county employee, this is nothing short of defamatory. The county defendants will take all legal measures necessary to defend their good reputations should the media publish such malicious, unfounded claims.”
The officers filed their lawsuits in the fall.
Here is a summary of the cases:
Officer Kevin Jackson
In October 2020, former Officer Kevin Jackson filed suit claiming he had been discriminated against because he is Black and wrongfully terminated.
In his lawsuit, he alleges that of the department’s 100 officers, only six are Black and none hold a rank above patrolman.
He also claims white officers have admitted to watching porn on their department computers, gotten into accidents with patrol cars, been accused of assault, sexual misconduct and sexual harassment – all without repercussions.
Meanwhile, when Jackson got into an accident, he was suspended, lost privileges for a month and was reprimanded for taking a patrol car out of the county.
He declined to comment to 5 On Your Side, but his attorney, Kevin Casper said Jackson’s lawsuit along with the others are telling.
“It’s a pretty clear pattern of differential treatment amongst the department,” he said. “When you have multiple people saying the same thing, it’s a pretty good red flag.
“There is a glass ceiling type of environment as well.”
5 On Your Side has confirmed another officer has a discrimination lawsuit pending.
In his lawsuit, Jackson notes Capt. Chris Hunt was charged and convicted of a felony for his actions during a drug raid in another county in 2015. Ultimately, Hunt appealed the jury verdict to the Missouri Supreme Court, which overturned his conviction.
Prosecutors charged him again and he ultimately pleaded no contest to a peace disturbance.
“My client was asked to resign for relatively minor infractions, whereas Hunt was convicted of a felony and given a desk job during the appeal process,” Casper said.
According to the suit, those minor infractions included not turning in reports within 24 hours, “Even though similar violations were common occurrences within the department and white officers were not reprimanded or forced to resign because of them.”
The county has filed a motion to dismiss Jackson’s case, writing: “All actions and decisions of county with respect to plaintiff were reasonable, taken for legitimate and non-discriminatory reasons and the county had a lawful justification that was consistent with business necessity.”
Jackson joined the county as a corrections officer in 2002, and had been with the police department since 2007.
Officers Omid Hamzehzadeh and Tom Tumbrink
In November 2020, Hazehzadeh and Tumbrink filed separate suits with similar allegations.
In late 2019, a former dispatcher accused both officers of sexual assault.
St. Charles police investigated, and the St. Charles County prosecutor asked the Lincoln County prosecutor to oversee the case to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest.
But the case went nowhere.
St. Charles police did not apply for charges against the officers, according to documents obtained by 5 On Your Side.
Still, both men allege they were disciplined.
In his lawsuit, Hamzehzadeh says he was subjected to seven hours of polygraph testing in which the machine malfunctioned twice and he was told to make implicating statements otherwise the polygraph would be seen as “deceptive.” Hunt ordered him to sign the paperwork authorizing a one-day suspension. When he asked for union representation, Hunt told him, “No, I’m giving you a direct order to sign,” according to the suit.
Once pristine evaluations turned into sub-par performance reviews, he alleged.
Hamzehzadeh is also Iranian.
“Ethnic names and slurs were common during his attempt to become a member of the SWAT team,” according to the lawsuit.
Tumbrink says he is Native American and ethic names and slurs were “common,” and he was told when he joined the department in 2017 he should not join the union because the administration doesn’t want the union.
But he did anyway.
He said Hunt launched an internal investigation into the discharge of another officer's gun in February 2019 at his apartment complex parking lot while Tumbrink was asleep.
Former Chief Todd threatened to fire Tumbrink if he was implicated in any further incidents, and Hunt, “without evidence, accused Tumbrink of drinking and driving on the night of the incident.”
In August 2020, Tumbrink contacted O’Fallon police about a ticket his girlfriend got, then received a call from internal affairs and was told he is being investigated for making threats to a Black officer who wrote the ticket, according to the suit.
He took a polygraph, and was told his answers were deceptive without explanation, and the internal affairs officer had paperwork for unpaid leave already on his desk, according to Tumbrink’s lawsuit.
He got fired Oct. 19, 2020.
Both Tumbrink and Hamzehzadeh allege other officers – and members of the county administration – have violated numerous policies, without reprimand.
They, too, bring up how there was never an internal affairs investigation into Hunt’s actions that led to the criminal charges, and how he was promoted to captain from sergeant.
They allege Hunt dropped his membership to the police union during that investigation because of the union’s “alleged failure to support him as a result of the aforementioned charges,” according to the lawsuit.
The officers also allege Hunt damaged a county police vehicle he wasn’t authorized to drive without discipline.
And that Hunt, Todd and County Administrator Joanne Leykam prevented a relative of Leykam’s from being arrested and charged with two felonies following a car accident.
“The responding officer was directed by Hunt” to bring the relative to Leykam’s house and no charges were ever filed, “no one was disciplined or suspended,” according to the suit.
The suit also names five other officers who they claim do not belong to the union who committed the following offenses without discipline:
- Damaged a bathroom sink at a business along Main Street.
- Stopped for DWI repeatedly, yet promoted and not disciplined.
- Electronically disregarded orders to terminate a high speed pursuit, which resulted in a fatality and a wrongful death lawsuit.
‘Skeletal allegations’
In their motion to dismiss, and strike some of the allegations from the suits, St. Charles County attorney Rory Sullivan vehemently denies the allegations.
“These incidents amount to nothing more than unsubstantiated rumors of the most scandalous nature,” he wrote. “Plaintiff is using these incidents to blacken the county defendants’ reputations, as well as unrelated non-parties’ reputations, and to poison the general public’s perception of the county and is a calculated attempt to influence the pool of potential future jurors.
“Even if taken as true, plaintiff’s allegations fail to identify any members of the Union who were similarly situated but treated differently.”
Sullivan also takes the officers to task for naming and accusing other officers of misconduct in their lawsuits, calling them “immaterial and impertinent incidents.”
“None of these employees are parties to this matter, their good reputations have been put at issue despite the fact that they have no means to respond, and none of the purported conduct has any nexus to plaintiff’s claims,” Sullivan wrote.
Sullivan also writes the officers accuse Hunt, Todd and Leykam of retaliating against the officers because of their union affiliation, without any proof that they knew of said activity.
“Plaintiff's failure to provide any substance to his skeletal allegations defeats his claim in full as to the county and the individual defendants in their official capacities,” he wrote.
The county also asked a judge to strike the allegations regarding Leykam’s niece from the lawsuit, saying the lawsuit, “Makes the bold-faced assertion that three defendants, Leykam, Todd and Hunt, engaged in an attempt to prevent Leykam’s relative from being arrested and charged with two felonies. This scurrilous, baseless accusation is made without any supporting facts, or indeed any detail whatsoever, and relates to an unfounded allegation of criminal wrongdoing against a non-party, non-employee of the county who has nothing to do with this case. The only purpose of including this allegation is to embarrass, harass or intimidate, and should therefore be stricken.”
Hamzehzadeh is the only officer who has filed suit to remain on the force.
Editor's note: An earlier version of this story contained an incorrect description of the owner of the gun that was allegedly fired in Tom Tumbrink's parking lot.