Courtesy MilesCityStar.com

Sgt. sues city, ex-police chief
By Elaine Forman
Miles City Police Sgt. Mark Reddick has filed a lawsuit against the City of Miles City and former police chief Lissa Power for causing him to lose substantial income and benefits he was entitled to and causing him severe mental and emotional distress, humiliation, embarrassment, harm to his reputation and other general damages.
The case was filed in 16th Judicial District Court on Sept. 4.
Reddick has been a police officer in Miles City since Sept. 1, 1993.
The court document filed by Reddick states that he was "a capable, conscientious, and diligent police officer that performed his duties in an exemplary manner. ... Reddick led the police department in the amount of traffic citations written as well as the number of DUI arrests per year."
Reddick was reinstated to the department in Aug. 1998 after being terminated for undisclosed reasons.The city had agreed not to use the termination against him in future disciplinary action.
In his complaint, Reddick maintains that Chief Power wrote then Mayor George Kurkowski that Reddick "had been guilty of misconduct and she was disappointed and did not support Reddick's reinstatement and proactive enforcement style."
Reddick believes that from Aug. 1998 through 2006, when Power left the department, she retaliated by embarking "on a malicious and intentional course of action that was calculated to discourage him from continuing his employment," the court document states.
The document goes on to state that "Power began to micro-manage and critique Reddick's enforcement actions, even though there was no legitimate basis" to do so.
It states that "During a meeting on Feb. 22, 2006, Power stated that she had a `responsibility to protect the citizens from Mark.'"
"In May of 2000, Reddick was severely disciplined for two minor incidents," and "In November of 2007, Reddick was unfairly passed over for a promotion to the positions of either Assistant Chief or Lieutenant Detective. As a result, Reddick has lost and continues to lose substantial income and benefits to the present day."
The document states that (from August 1998 to the present), the defendants:
- subjected Reddick to ridicule and humiliation;
- denied him promotions and ability to be meaningfully considered for promotions;
- denied him the ability and opportunity to work as a fully capable and qualified police officer despite his experience, qualifications, training and seniority;
- promoted another officer with less experience, qualifications, training or seniority;
- relied on arbitrary criteria in making job assignments, compensation, overtime and promotional decisions, to Reddick's detriment;
- attempted to terminate him or discipline him without justification;
- attempted to interfere with his involvement with the police union;
- denied him fair treatment by penalizing him in his attempts to grieve or appeal unfair discipline;
- denied him substantial pay and desirable work hours and shifts;
- subjected him to differ
ent and more rigorous requirements than his peers;
- restricted duties that limited his ability to earn overtime pay;
- arbitrarily limited his authority, endangering him and other officers and citizens;
- arbitrarily applied different standards to his job performances and overscrutinized his job performance;
- reclassified job assignments when others with less training were not subjected to similar reclassifications;
- retaliated against him for his legal enforcement actions and his reinstatement;
- failed to provide Reddick with adequate job descriptions and directions with respect to newly assigned tasks;
- attempted to impose excessive discipline upon Reddick;
- impeded his appointment as assistant chief by then Mayor Butch Grenz;
- made spurious allegations of policy violations and criminal conduct by Reddick;
- failed to perform required evaluations on his performance, in violation of procedure, despite Reddick's requests;
- failed to include positive performance evaluations and letters of commendation from others in his personnel files; included negative materials in the file without notifying him;
- made untrue derogatory comments, innuendos and false allegations of criminal misconduct about Reddick to city officials and the local newspaper;
-required him to drive his own vehicle while on duty;
- refused to support, offer assistance or exonerate him when serious, false allegations of criminal conduct were made against him;
- placed him in an unsafe working environment by scheduling him to work alone during night shift, contrary to applicable procedures.
Reddick asks for damages to fully compensate him for their retaliation, to compensate for their violation of the Montana Safety Act, to compensate for their violation of their duty to adequately supervise their employees, for the malicious conduct, for lost wages and other benefits, attorneys fees and costs, for leave to amend his complaint, and for other relief the court finds just.
Mayor Joe Whalen said Thursday that he received the lawsuit about three weeks ago and immediately forwarded it to the Montana Municipal Insurance Authority, which handles the city's liability insurance, and will appoint a law firm to defend the city.



Thoughts?

Usually in a small town such as Miles City, the residents can quickly tell you if this cop was heavy handed in his enforcement...Will be interesting to see the comments about this...

I would hope they ask people to come forward who have experienced Mr. Reddick's behavior while working as a police officer. Heavy handed is a good description.

My personal experience has led me to believe Miles City is lucky to have officers like Mark on the force. Not because he has never written any one in my family a ticket - he has but they were earned. He has always treated me fairly and professionally. Now considering the extreme duress he has apparently been subjected to while doing his job, kudos for Mark! We should hope we could do as well.

My only question is why now? Why not several years ago, when the people involved were still involved?

Sgt. Reddick, You have bucked a culture within THAT department that is based on a laissez - faire approach to public safety. You make other officers uncomfortable by your work ethic. You have taken your oath seriously and cared about the community. You have done all of that in a very poorly run department that mandates little to no performance standards from its officers. You will easily be described as heavy handed because you do police duties. You care way too much about public safety. This is Miles City. Ticket writing, arresting people, and keeping public order is to be enforced on a very limited basis and depending on who it is. You treat everyone in a consistent and fair manner. Wow, with you around I will have to drive responsibly, not steal from others, and basically follow the law. Curse you for making this a better place to live and caring for people. That's just crazy.

[This message has been edited by Zak (10/3/2009)]

I looked up "heavy-handed" in my dictionary and found a picture of Lissa Powers and Mike King.

Miles City, MT
Miles City, MT: (Apr-23-07) Police Chief Lissa Power filed a complaint with the Montana Human Rights Commission, accusing former mayor Butch Grenz of gender discrimination and retaliation in violation of federal and state civil rights laws between 2004 and 2006, reaffirming the allegations of her federal lawsuit filed in October 2006. The suit claimed that Miles City discriminated against Power because she is a woman and Mayor Grenz retaliated against her for speaking publicly on matters of public concern; specifically, the misconduct of Grenz and failures of other public officials to address and correct that misconduct. Power claimed that she faced defamation and accused the city of negligence in supervising the conduct of Grenz. In a settlement reached, Miles City agreed to pay Power $135,000. Grenz stepped down from the mayor's post in April 2006, following concerns expressed by the Miles City Council over Power's complaint and others. [GREAT FALLS TRIBUNE: GENDER DISCRIMINATION]

Wow. $135 Large.

Didn't Mayor Grenz try to boot Chief Power for, among other things, her treatment of Sgt. Reddick?

Does anyone remember why her was fired from the force in 98 or when ever it was? Just curious

Sgt. Reddick was fired because he arrested one of Lissa's friends back in 1998. Of course after a reasonable legal review it was determined that the firing was not only illegal but unjustified. The investigators hired by the city also determined this. The city and more appropriately Lissa was forced to reinstate him. Over the years however, she made Sgt. Reddick pay for this by undesirable working conditions, etc.

Ask Officer Murnion if the likes his job,ask if he thinks his working conditions are undesirable. When I was in school Reddick was the resource officer. Seems funny he finds that undesirable.

Truth is self evident and will usually prevail...eventually.

We used to believe in the good ole days
We still receive in little ways
Deeds of kindness and unsporting brow
forgive and allow

I hope he wins his suit. Officer Reddick is very good hearted man and has a dedication to his job that you just don't see anymore. Too many times an officer could care less about a victim, he keep in touch with me through the whole thing. Good people get the shaft way too much now a days.

I'm sorry but I must disagree. We are the ones who have to pay for this. As Amorette said; "Why now?"

Does anyone know what came of this? Officer Reddick always says hello, and is very fair in my experience. Has this gone to court yet?

I have little to no experience about this particular post but I do have a question. Who pays for this? From what I have seen and read on here Miles City has some budget issues already and is running a "tight ship" so to say.

Hopefully all avenues have already been taken and this is the final push to get something he may or may not deserve and cost the city more money which I believe it doesnt have.

[This message has been edited by ringin10 (10/22/2010)]

I'm not going to read any of the previous posts. I'm just going to ask if the emotional stress was caused by his inability to catch any tail when he doesn't have lights on top of his ride?

Oh procreate, fine I read them. Reddick liked to harass pretty young girls. When he became the resource officer it was like, "WTF? Don't like him pulling them over? Might as well make them his captive audience."

[This message has been edited by Buck Showalter (10/22/2010)]

The real question should be: Why did this happen in the first place: not : Why now: and what was done if anything to the individuals. It seems from what I've read in past posts and articles that there are some in our local government both past and present have the idea that their positions allow them to do as they please based on personal feelings and agendas and not whats good for the whole as it should be.I don't care who you are if half of what was charged in his suit is true then we have completely sunk to a new level to allow the few to dictate over the many

You must be new to the community. Welcome to MC.