You will learn more about Desheila Howlett in the pages of
Capone of Cannabis. These words below are court documents
related to her lawsuit against the City of Warren.
You’ll find some very interesting facts here — but even more in the book.
At the end of March 2015, Howlett began working as a Detective in the Special Victims Department{2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 18} where she worked with four other Detectives, including Shawn Johnson. Howlett Deposition, ECF No. 66-2, PagelD.3753; Eidt Deposition, ECF No. 69-22, PagelD.6581; Johnson Deposition, ECF No. 69-15, PagelD.6430. Sergeant Robert Eidt, the supervisor for this department, assigned Detective Shawn Johnson to assist Howlett in becoming acquainted with the department. Johnson Deposition, ECF No. 69-15, PagelD.6430. Howlett alleges Johnson sexually harassed her, including suggesting she was his “slave girl”, sniffing her suggestivaly, and rubbing his hands through her hair. ECF No. 4, PagelD.54; Howlett Dep. ECF No. 69-10, Page!D.6377. Johnson acknowledges that he sniffed Howlett, but claims she was wearing a new perfume and he simply smelied the perfume and wanted to compliment her on it. Johnson Deposition, ECF No. 69-15, PagelD.6438. He also denies rubbing his hands through her hair and claims he never touched her. ECF No. 69-15, PagelD.6439.
Howlett also alleges Johnson made racist remarks toward her, including comparing her to the gorilla depicted on the label for “Gorilla Glue” and making derogatory comments about the foods Howlett brought for lunch, insinuating they were stereotypically{2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19} African American. ECF No. 4, PagelD.55; see, e.g., Johnson Deposition, ECF No. 69-15, PagelD.6436-37 (chicken and ribs), PagelD.6439 (“Atlanta” comment), Page!D.6446 (color coordinated clothing), PagelD.6450-51 (stealing accusation and “slave” comment). In his deposition, Johnson claims he did not intend to liken Howlett to the image on the “Gorilla Glue label”, but simply suggested she use “Gorilla Glue” to fix a clock on her desk that was broken. ECF No. 69-15, PagelD.6434. Johnson also claims his comments about the food Howlett brought for lunch were meant to be friendly comments about food generally. ECF No. 69-15, PagelD.6437. He claims the two spoke often about cooking and what food they each cooked at home. /d.
Howlett also alleges Johnson frequently suggested she was stealing items from his desk.5 ECF No. 4, PagelD.55. Johnson claims he was only joking when he made these comments, ECF 69-15, PagelD.6449.
Detective Johnson recounted an occasion during which Plaintiff discussed how her father’s dog liked to sleep under the bed, and when she tried to get the dog out from under the bed, it bit her. ECF No. 66-20, PagelD.4323.
Detective Johnson made a comment along the{2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 20} lines of, “Oh, he likes to be under there because of all the action that’s going on,” an apparent reference to sexual activity occurring in Plaintiff’s father’s bed.6
Detective Johnson testified that this type of statement could be sexually harassing or demeaning, but repeatedly defended his actions as lacking any intent to harass, and said that he thought his various comments were acceptable repartee between co-workers who had a friendly rapport. ECF No. 66-20, PagelD.4323-25.
At a retirement party for Officer Galasso in 2015, Plaintiff told Kathy Miller (now a retired detective) about Detective Johnson’s continuing behavior toward her. ECF No. 69-10, PagelD.6378. Sometime thereafter, Plaintiff was contacted by Sergeant Eidt, who informed her “that [Kathy Miller] had gone over to City Hall and filed a third-party complaint” on behalf of Plaintiff. ECF No. 69-10, PagelD.6378. Sergeant Eidt launched an investigation and discovered that not only did Johnson make some of these offensive remarks, but that three other detectives heard them and failed to report the incidents. ECF No.69-22, PagelD.6597; ECF No. 69, PagelD.6088-89. At the end of the investigation, Johnson took responsibility{2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21} for his behavior and Howlett’s formal complaint-that Johnson racially harassed Howlett-was sustained. The department took disciplinary action against Johnson, issuing a warning and placing a written note of discipline in his file, which was to be removed after one year if there were no further incidents. Johnson was moved out of the Special Victims Department to the Criminal !nvestigations Division and was required to attend diversity training.
Even though the complaint was sustained in 2015 and the training was intended to be a curative part of his punishment, Johnson did not receive any diversity training until 2017, after Howlett left the department because of her claims of mistreatment. ECF No. 69-15, PagelD.6460. Notably, Johnson attested that, “I would tell you that after having to go through this and having talked to Mr. Murray [his trainer] that my behavior and comments that | would make now has drastically changed.” ECF No. 66-20, PagelD.4341 (referring to the 2017 training). The City provides no explanation for why two years elapsed before Johnson received the training required{2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22} by his discipline.
In 2016, Howlett was given a promotion requiring her to work in the same division as Johnson once again, after he had been moved in 2015. Howlett Deposition, ECF No. 69-10, PagelD.6379. Howlett claims that before accepting the position she asked whether she could continue working in a different physical office from Johnson because of their past. /d. She claims Sergeant Eidt and Sergeant Mills assured her she could. /d. However, two weeks later, Lieutenant Lawrence Garner, the supervisor at the time, moved Howlett to the same side of the office with Johnson. fd. Garner had allegedly asked Howlett if the problems with Johnson were still ongoing, and even though Howlett indicated they were continuing, Garner moved her to Johnson’s side of the office. Howlett Deposition, ECF No. 69-10, PagelD.6383. Howlett alleges that from October to December 2016, while working near each other again, Johnson would glare at her, holler at her, and refuse to share work. ECF No. 69, PagelD.6079; Howlett Deposition, ECF No. 66-10, PagelD.6383. Police Commissioner Green testified that Howlett was only moved back into the same area as Johnson because the office was being renovated and there{2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23} was nowhere else for her to sit. Green Deposition, ECF No. 66-10, PagelD.4186.
Howlett also alleges that her co-workers used the “n-word” in her presence and in the presence of other white officers during her time with the Warren Police Department. ECF No. 4, PagelD.56; ECF No. 69, PagelD.6087. In depositions, two Warren Police Department employees-one a police officer-indicated they were unfamiliar with the history of the “n-word” and did not know it was considered particularly offensive or inappropriate. Beyer Deposition, ECF No. 66-24, PagelD.6644, Laban Deposition, ECF No. 69-29, PagelD.6833. Officer Laban also testified he believed there were situations in which it was okay for him to use the “n-word”; for example, if it were in a song or movie. Laban Deposition, ECF No. 69-29, PagelD.6832. in one incident, on February 1, 2017, Special Victims Department Secretary Barbara Beyer, in a conversation with Howlett, used the “n-word” word to refer to an African American man. ECF No. 69, PagelD.6089; Beyer Deposition, ECF No. 66-24, PagelD.6644. Beyer admits she used the words “that nigger” to refer to the African American man. Beyer Deposition, ECF No. 66-24, PagelD.6644.
Immediately{2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24} after hearing Beyer’s comment, Howlett reported the incident to her supervisor, Sergeant Mills. Mills Deposition, ECF No. 69-23, PagelD.6623. Sergeant Mills notified Lieutenant Gardner and Commissioner Green and the three then met with Howett. /d. at PagelD.6625. Mills also informed Sergeant Eidt, Beyer’s supervisor, of the incident. Howlett Deposition, ECF No. 69-10, PagelD.6380.
After the meeting with Mills, Gardner, and Green, Howeitt met with Mark Simlar. ECF No. 69-23, PagelD.6626. On route to the meeting with Similar, Howlett called Matt Nichols, the Deputy Commissioner, and recounted to him the event with Beyer and the other incidents that had occurred over the previous 11 years. ECF No. 69-10, PageiD.6380.
Howlett stated that during her meeting with Simlar, he got very emotional and stated that he believed that racism and sexism were “institutional” issues within the police department. /d. at PagelD.6388. Similar was questioned about this exchange, and based on what he heard from Howlett, he agreed that the situation appeared to be “institutional.” Simlar Deposition, ECF No. 69-6, PagelD.6250 (“At the time she was describing it to me, she made it sound like it was institutional,{2019 U.S. Dist.
