Seattle Police Captain Seeks $5.48M Over 'Pink Umbrella' Demotion

Seattle WA

29 July, 2021

3:40 PM

Description

SEATTLE — A Seattle police captain is seeking more than $5 million in damages from the city, alleging interim police chief Adrian Diaz discriminated and retaliated against him when he was demoted from assistant police chief earlier this year. The claim was first reported by The Seattle Times. Diaz removed Steve Hirjack from his command staff and demoted him to captain in May after reversing an early disciplinary decision against a lieutenant who authorized officers to use pepper spray, tear gas and blast balls on a large crowd of protesters on Capitol Hill last June, in what became known as the "pink umbrella incident." In refusing to discipline Hirjack's subordinate, despite misconduct findings from the Office of Police Accountability, Diaz argued it was unfair to hold him responsible for "circumstances that were created at a higher level of command authority." Two weeks later, Diaz blamed Hirjack's decision-making, saying he "laid the groundwork for the escalation of tensions that followed," and said he lost confidence in Hirjack's leadership. In a claim for damages filed Thursday, Hirjack names "reduction in pay, reduction in responsibility, harm to reputation, harm to future job opportunities, personal emotional distress, [and] loss of enjoyment of life," and notes his salary was reduced from $244,000 to $204,000. The police captain, who is Asian-American, goes on to allege he was the victim of both discrimination and retaliation. Hirjack writes in part: "The Seattle Police Department has discriminated against me on account of my race and treated me differently from similarly situated white employees. I was the first Asian-American assistant chief of police in Seattle history. On May 26, 2021, I was demoted in lieu of discipline that the Police Accountability Office recommended for a white employee (Employee 1). This was done even though the Office of Police Accountability cleared me of wrongdoing in an investigation of that incident. Employee 1 has received numerous complaints and has been and currently is the subject of several investigations, but has not received any discipline, even with the OPA recommendation. Instead, Employee 1 has been promoted." After filing a discrimination complaint on the day of his demotion, the captain said he faced retaliation and was "left unassigned for nearly two months." The Seattle Times reports Hirjack's attorney gave Diaz and the city until Aug. 11 to agree to settle the matter out of court. Otherwise, they will move forward with a lawsuit.