CLARKSTON, Ga. — In the middle of a messy battle between a police chief and a city manager, the police chief said she was demoted.
This comes just a few months after the police chief, a white woman, filed an EEOC complaint against the city manager, a Black woman, accusing her of being racist.
After several attempts, Clarkston City Manager Shawanna Qawiy still will not sit down with Channel 2′s Tyisha Fernandes and answer questions about what is going on.
Fernandes tried speaking with her at her office here at City Hall again Thursday, tried to get her on the phone. She will only answer certain questions through text, but not all.
One thing she did text Fernandes was that she did not demote the police chief.
Attorney Ed Buckley represents Clarkston Police Chief Christine Hudson.
Hudson said she was demoted Monday when a man named John Pearson walked into her office and said he was her new boss.
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“I think it could’ve been handled in a lot of ways more professionally,” Buckley said. “She met the new director of police services, and he told her he was there to oversee the department.”
Pearson is a retired law enforcement professional with more than 40 years under his belt. He was the assistant police chief in Hogansville, he was deputy director of police services in DeKalb County, and he was deputy commissioner for the Georgia Department of Juvenile Justice.
When Fernandes went to Clarkston City Hall to ask city manager Qawiy why she brought in Pearson, she wouldn’t speak with her.
She did send a text that said she did not demote Hudson.
“Before Mr. Pearson came in, she had full authority and full charge of the police department. She no longer has that, so I do think that is a demotion. When you change the terms and conditions and privileges of an employee’s employment under Title 7, that’s an adverse employment action and that’s what’s occurred here,” Qawiy texted.
This comes just a few months after the city manager suspended Hudson for alleged insubordination and the chief’s EEOC complaint against the city manager for allegedly being racist.
Hudson’s attorney said it’s unusual for a city manager to demote a police chief when that chief has an open EEOC complaint against her.
“It’s just another -- excuse me for saying so -- but bone-headed move by the city of Clarkston,” Buckley said.
Fernandes has filed an open records request to see how much the city of Clarkston is paying their new director of police services.
This comes at a time when the police chief has been begging for more money to pay officers who have been leaving because of low pay.
So far, seven officers have resigned this year.
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