AURORA | Former Aurora Police Chief Vanessa Wilson on Friday filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the city almost two years after being fired as chief amidst a roiling controversy over police reforms to counter documented abuse of minorities.
The lawsuit reiterates past allegations that Wilson was the target of city council conservatives who wanted to derail the police reform efforts she championed. The reforms came as a consent decree pact between the department and state attorney general.
The lawsuit was filed in Arapahoe County District Court more than a year after Wilson’s attorney, Paula Greisen, notified the city a lawsuit was imminent focusing on the cause behind her 2022 dismissal.
“Chief Wilson was terminated because of her efforts to implement and enforce the consent decree, her association with and advocacy for people of color, and in retaliation for, and in anticipation of her engaging in additional protected activities to reform racially motivated policing in the City of Aurora,” Greisen said previously.
Wilson started in Aurora as a patrol officer in 1996 and rose through the ranks to become chief in August 2020, several months after being appointed on an interim basis.
She took control of the department as protests against the killing of unarmed Black people by police continued to roil the country, including in Aurora, where just a few months earlier police used pepper spray to disperse a violin vigil honoring Elijah McClain.
During her tenure as chief, Wilson came into conflict with the Aurora Police Department’s two police unions as she sacked numerous officers involved in misconduct scandals. She rolled out racial diversity policies that drew the ire of police union officials as well as some City Council members and candidates for the office.
Wilson’s time as chief included the introduction of a consent decree between the city and the state attorney general’s office mandating a raft of public safety reforms, still underway. The decree was imposed after an AG investigation found Aurora police regularly engaged in racially-biased policing and had used force disproportionately against residents of color. Attorney general officials said Aurora police exhibited patterns and practices of mistreating people of color.
Wilson was fired in April 2022 following months of criticism by conservative City Council members, saying that she had alienated rank-and-file police officers and didn’t do enough to address rising crime.
After firing her, Former City Manager Jim Twombly criticized Wilson’s leadership and management abilities generally but said he did not believe she was to blame for crime in the region. Nor was her focus on regaining public trust in the department cited as cause for dismissal.
Wilson, her attorney and supporters disagreed with Wilson’s firing and Twombly’s justification.
In the notice of intent to sue, Greisen described a “conspiracy” to fire Wilson hatched among council members Danielle Jurinsky, Dustin Zvonek and Steve Sundberg.
In the lawsuit filed Friday, Greisen did not offer details of that allegation.
She said the three council members and Aurora Police Association former President Doug Wilkinson promoted her firing. Wilkinson was fired from the department after criticizing diversity efforts in an email that the Civil Service Commission said “denigrated and showed hostility toward women and minorities.”
Wilkinson, then APA president, sent an email Nov. 16, 2021 to 240 union members and others criticizing police department efforts to recruit more women and minority officers for the force.
“To match the ‘diversity’ of ‘the community’ we could make sure to hire 10% illegal aliens, 50% weed smokers, 10% crackheads, and a few child molesters and murderers to round it out. You know, so we can make the department look like the ‘community,’” Wilkinson wrote in the email.
Wilson suspended Wilkinson in November 2021, setting off a firestorm of controversy.
Wilson publicly pushed back against Wilkinson’s allegations that the consent decree and police reforms were intended to replace white, male police officers in the department.
Wilson and pro-police reform officials are “addicted to race and sex politics,” Wilkinson said in the email. “The decree indicates that they want to replace as many of the department’s white males as possible with as many women and minorities as possible. It’s as simple as that.”
Wilkinson later told KCNC-TV in an interview that his missive was intended to be “a private email message to the members” and should not have been made public.
The lawsuit alleges Wilkinson, other police union officials and the three conservative city lawmakers began a public and internal campaign to fire Wilson and upend the consent decree.
The lawsuit did not offer details or evidence of the coordination.
Most vocal of her opponents was Jurisnky.
“In December 2021, Jurinsky warned Chief Wilson not to fire Wilkinson because of the email,” the lawsuit claims. “Chief Wilson explained that an investigation was being conducted by the HR department, that several officers voiced objection to Wilkinson’s statements, and that she was personally appalled by the racism displayed by the email. Jurinsky countered that she and (Sundberg and Zevonek) ‘did not believe’ in the consent decree, did not believe that there was racism in the APD, and that she and the new council members would seek to reverse the decree.”
To date, Aurora and the police department continue to abide by the agreement and pursue agreed upon reforms.
“Shortly thereafter, Councilperson Sundberg echoed the comments by Jurinsky in a meeting with Chief Wilson,” according to the lawsuit. “He also made veiled references to Chief Wilson’s membership in the LGBTQ+ community and told her he didn’t want Aurora ‘turning into San Francisco.’”
Wilson has talked publicly about being a lesbian.
The lawsuit refers to a past controversy involving Sundberg, who, prior to being elected to city council, “filmed himself imitating Mexicans, Arab Muslims, South Asians, and members of other ethnic groups as online advertisements for a bar he owned.
“The videos showed Sundberg dressed in stereotypical garb, speaking in exaggerated and offensive accents and broken English, mocking Arab dietary practices, and making racist jokes about anatomical stereotypes regarding Black men.”
After the Sentinel and other media exposed the videos, Sundberg publicly apologized — in late 2022, after Wilson was fired — saying, “For anyone I offend, I apologize and will learn from it. He said they were not intended to racist or insulting, but humorous.
Meanwhile, a campaign made public for Wilson’s ouster increased, according to the lawsuit.
During a Jan. 27, 2022 interview on a conservative talk radio show, Jurinsky demanded that Chief Wilson and Deputy Chief Parker be fired.
“We remove the chief immediately, and with her take out the trash of the deputy chief of police, Darin Parker,” Jurinsky told former conservative talk-show host Steffan Tubbs on KNUS radio.
“She’s trash… If you want to quote something, ‘Chief Vanessa Wilson is trash.’” Jurinsky said. “Change is coming.”
Later that day, Jurinsky made similar comments in a tweet and on Facebook adding, “#FireTheChief, “according to the lawsuit.
“The Police Chief needs to leave Aurora immediately! I will be doing weekly interviews on multiple shows until the Chief is gone and our department is liberated. … ‘You are not safe’ and I will only get louder. #FireTheChief.”
The lawsuit claims that Jurinsky began attending private police briefings, slandering Wilson and “promising to remove her from office.”
The lawsuit alleges that Jurninsky’s comments and behavior violated city law prohibiting council members from interfering with city employees, outside of the city manager and city attorney.
The issue resulted in former Councilmember Juan Marcano insisting Jurinsky be censured by the city council for her threats about firing Wilson.
The censure discussion was held in a closed meeting, resulting in a majority of city council opposing the move, according to previous Sentinel reporting. The city council executive session and a vote to halt the censure proceeding against Jurinsky was held illegally, according to a Colorado Court of Appeals decision in December.
The City of Aurora was sued by the Sentinel, which alleged the meeting was held illegally and as well as a secret vote to decide not to pursue censure. The City of Aurora has appealed the decision to the Colorado Supreme Court.
The lawsuit claims that Wilson was regularly assailed by council critics and that Jurinsky, Sundberg and Zvonek pressured Twombly to fire Wilson.
Twombly said publicly that the decision was his alone. The lawsuit does not cite details or evidence of the allegations.
While the lawsuit says Wilson was told by Twombly that she was being fired for “prioritize(ing) community involvement,” city spokesman Ryan Luby previously pointed to a news release from April in which Twombly said it was “clear that Chief Wilson has prioritized community involvement” but that “the police chief also needs to effectively manage the operations of the department, effectively engage with staff, build morale, and validate employee feedback.”
Wilson is asking for an unspecified amount of back pay, lost wages, attorney fees and compensation for stress and loss of opportunity caused by the firing.
I think she was doing everything right, and the “conservatives” were absolute malicious idiots in this instance. Give her everything she’s asking for. BTW…I’m no bleeding heart, but the Aurora PD is so disgusting in their behavior it makes me sick.
You have no idea just how incompetent she was. Her public posturing fooled you, both those of us who worked on the inside know the truth.
The public, citizens of Aurora and this Sentinel blog doesn’t have even a small clue how much her leadership style was despised by a huge majority of APD personnel that she led. She deserved to be fired for a overwhelming lack of leadership, just what Twombly fired her for.
The conservatives on Council, ( along with the socialists) and Twombly were very much aware of her lack of leadership. All of this will come out in a jury trial and personally, I can’t wait to see her dragged through the mud of her own choosing.
The City must fight her lawsuit with great vigor. Then counter sue her for legal fees and staff waste of time. Not to mention, investigates her involvement in the Robin Niceta affair. She must have known what her lover was up to and probably was involved in that affair right from the beginning. It’s about time all Citizens of Aurora find out the truth of this internally despised, radical lesbian Ex Police Chief. Let the jury sort it out.
Regardless of the language that may have been used and any conflict in City Council, Vanessa Wilson was a poor choice for chief. The people in the Department knew it from long association. She has had her problems with domestic disputes and alcohol. Within the department, she immediately sent uses of force to the DA’s office before they were even examined by the department or Internal Affairs. During that time, I had occasion to speak with a number of people within the department who were amazed that she did not take the time to examine things and simply went for prosecution of her own people without a fair investigation. A prime example of this is the case of the pistol whipping which garnered wide press coverage. The officers were charged before either the officers or the suspect were really interviewed. The suspect lied in brief statements before asking for a lawyer. Charges were filed before other videos were even picked up or viewed that showed that the suspect grabbed for the officer’s gun before he was hit and continued to grab for it during a three minute struggle. Chief Wilson made a big show of immediately calling it criminal in a press conference before she even looked at the other videos. I won’t go on. There is more. The heart of it is that she was willing to ruin the lives of two officers before she even saw the evidence.
Inside the department, she was prone to tantrums and screaming at her subordinates. Those who had supervised her in the past and those who had worked for her felt that she would implode in the position.
Now, let us address the amount of money and embarrassment she caused the City by her inept handling of all of the crowd events after the George Floyd death. First she overreacts and pushes a bunch of peaceful gatherers off of the municipal complex grounds. Then, she under reacts and allows violent protesters to severely damage the municipal buildings, to include a fire. She also allowed her officers to be chained inside the District One Substation, not knowing if a fire was to follow.
We, who had worked with her, knew that she was incompetent and had no leadership skills. Before she was chosen, I made comments in the Sentinel that we did not need a politician chief with no leadership skills or police knowledge. I specifically mentioned Vanessa Wilson in that category.
I realize that she played the game of reformer well. She did not do it ethically. Yes, a number of the officers deserved to be fired. What chief, in today’s environment, doesn’t know that they are under scrutiny and firing is looked at positively by the public. But, you don’t do it just to look good. And, you don’t do it without the facts and a fair investigation. The incredible lack of an adequate investigation and the rush to judgment that ruined two officers’ lives in the pistol whipping incident is reason enough to fire her.
Just for grins, will you and your sidekick Dick give examples of any police leaders who were effective and why you think so?
So Don,,,,,if you were tasked with writing the vacancy announcement for a permanent APD chief what would the qualifications criteria be to fill the position with the best qualified candidate? I do read your commentary and you make many valid points, but I have never read anything in terms of positive reviews for police chiefs in large municipalities such as Auroa. In your mind does a person exist who can satisfy your standards for effective leadership?
The Aurora mayor and city council is corrupt. We can only hope she is awarded everything she is asking for.
decent law abiding citizens of aurora stand with vanessa wilson against this city’s corrupt council including silent progressive!!!!!!
We all knew this was the next scene subsequent to her firing. This lawsuit is not some game-changer grievance against the city. This is an opportunity now for the city to look at what the wokeness syndrome leads to. The ex-chief pretending she had a broader awareness, of social injustices and her calling was the liberator of everything she viewed as politically incorrect.
This trial will be a learning experience to look into the operation of a police departments ability to deal with the department’s obligation to the public. And how the influence of a chief with little respect is unable to hold the business-end of things together.
The 35-page complaint Wilson has filed in US District Court is shaped into an interesting piece of work. It has allowed us to see clearly this is about her politics. A picture is attached of Steve Sundberg years prior to any of his current councilman position during the Covid pandemic, a little homemade commercial for his restaurant business. Her complaint states, “Aurora residents described Sundberg’s videos as “disrespectful,” “insulting,” “horrible,” and “racist.”
“Councilperson Sundberg imitating a South Asian man.”
Really, CM Steve Sundberg, racist, is he? Fascinating the complaint omits a picture of Chantal, Steves wife he moved here with some of her family from Rwanda. But Steve is supposed to have done something explicitly wrong here as Wilson claims. We will see how that questioning goes during her depositions.
This council, hopefully is unwilling to acquiesce, rather respond with the truth of Wilson’s complete failure.
Actions speak louder than words, but words are also a clear display of values.
Racist humor is funny only to racists. Racists and homophobes band together to fuel one another’s hatred and ignorance. I imagine it feels good…until someone gets caught. Then, the typical gaslighting and defensiveness comes to the fore.
Corruption is tolerated when it works in favor of the majority.
There is no room for a lesbian chief in a culture that does not value diversity.
To have a lesbian leading the department is a shift in values and priorities that are not appreciated by those who espouse traditional, conservative values.
This is the crux of the matter. Wilson’s largest critics are realizing that they could be at risk of losing power and control when she was hired into a role of power and influence.
Those who have power and are at risk of losing it will spare no expense to retain it. Let’s call it what it is.
I wonder whether Aurora will have a full time Chief before this trial is completed or will it be a few more years of interim Chiefs.
We stand with Vanessa Wilson! We hope she is awarded what she deserves 100%. Aurora lost out when they lost Vanessa. She made the good ol’ goon boys accountable. She gave accountability back to the people. She listened. All the chiefs after her have left again and again and again – the city of interim because the Aurora Police and Danielle are corrupt racists who no one can control and they didn’t like that Vanessa has what it takes. She brought justice and healing. Congrats Vanessa. Know that God sees. Truth. 100%.