The City of Bloomington has settled a lawsuit accusing a former top police officer of misconduct.
The settlement gives $25,000 to each of the two plaintiffs and does not require the city or former Assistant Police Chief Paul Williams to admit guilt.
The lawyer representing Garrett Chubb and Lenelle Higgins said he's pleased the city is compensating his clients. They were detained following an off-duty traffic stop in June, during which Williams ordered officers to issue disorderly conduct citations that ultimately did not stick.
In a statement on Wednesday, the city said it plans to resume an internal investigation into that incident and its response.
“The city initiated its own review of this matter prior to the filing of litigation, and that effort will now continue without the constraints that accompany active legal proceedings,” City Manager Jeff Jurgens said in a media release. “Our goal is not simply to close a chapter, but to identify lessons learned, address any unresolved concerns and strengthen our organization moving forward.”
Attorney Jared Kosoglad, who represented Chubb and Higgins, is instead calling for an independent investigation based on what he describes as a pattern of alleged retaliation and intimidation by Williams and the city's failure to address it.
“The circumstances surrounding the City of Bloomington’s response to allegations of misconduct by former Assistant Police Chief Paul Williams raise serious question about the integrity of the city’s police oversight, its internal investigations, the conduct of its elected officials and the decisions made by public officials entrusted with protecting the city,” he said.
Kosoglad previously told WGLT he received unprecedented calls and messages from citizens and police officers who expressed concerns about Paul Williams and the culture within the Bloomington Police Department.
That includes Williams’ excessive overtime while he was a police lieutenant and claims that Williams retaliated against officers who bucked him.
“Former officers have described a culture in which challenging Williams could jeopardize an officer’s career," Kosoglad said. "Other information concerns the suppression or mishandling of complaints, retaliation against officers who reported misconduct and the use of official authority against citizens who criticized Williams.”
In an interview with WGLT last week, Mayor Dan Brady said he had not been briefed on the settlement and declined to answer questions until then.
“Once I have that briefing, I think that will be extremely helpful. Then there will be an appropriate time in which to try and respond to your questions,” he said.
WGLT contacted the city and the Mayor’s office Wednesday following the release of the city’s public statement regarding the settlement and has not yet heard back.
On Wednesday, Jurgens said the city can be trusted to investigate itself.
"All you have to do is look and see that, again, we had the former assistant chief out on leave before the lawsuit was even filed," he said. "The two were not connected. I think the community is going to trust us and we're going to make sure we look into it. And if there are any changes we need to make, we'll make them."
In a previous interview, Jurgens declined to comment on Williams’ conduct prior to his tenure as city manager. He reiterated Wednesday that "we have a lot of overtime within the police department. It's governed based on collective bargaining agreement rights."
Jurgens said the city does sometimes outsource attorneys to assist in legal matters and would likely do so as part of its internal investigation.
City council members have either declined to comment or not responded to WGLT’s messages asking whether they’d support an independent investigation.
