Firing Lying

[October 29th, 2008]

The city of Vancouver, Wash., had good reason to disregard the complaint that led to Officer Navin Sharma’s firing—and to the city ultimately paying Sharma a $1.65 million wrongful discharge settlement.

As federal officials ponder a recent call by Vancouver Mayor Royce Pollard and police union officials for an investigation into Sharma’s firing (see “Good Cop, Mad Cop,” WW, July 30, 2008), abundant evidence that the process was deeply flawed is already part of the court record.

The big flaw dates back to Feb. 16, 2005, when court records show, longtime Vancouver City Attorney Ted Gathe drafted a letter of termination for the city’s chief prosecuting attorney, Josephine Townsend.

“I have met with you on several occasions to discuss my concerns regarding your performance,” Gathe wrote Townsend in a letter that began “re: Termination of Employment.” “Throughout your employment in the position of Chief Prosecuting Attorney, I have felt the need to repeatedly counsel you on this subject.”

Gathe’s letter detailed several concerns. But the most damning, contained in his handwritten notes, are two judges’ doubts about Townsend’s “truthfulness.” Gathe says Townsend resigned rather than be fired.

Townsend then entered private practice and in February 2006 complained to Gathe’s office about drunken-driving tickets written by Sharma.

When she was working for the city, Townsend had worked closely with Sharma, helping him improve the effectiveness of his ticket-writing. Now she wanted to use what she knew about Sharma against him.

Gathe’s office passed the complaint to VPD internal affairs whose investigation consisted of interviews with Sharma and two Washington State Patrol DUII experts, who found nothing seriously wrong with Sharma’s tickets. None of the more than two dozen Vancouver police officers who approved Sharma’s tickets was interviewed.

The court record shows Gathe’s subordinates were involved at every step of the process that followed: reviewing the investigation and helping write his termination letter.

Even more remarkably, those subordinates asked the Clark County District Attorney’s Office to consider charging Sharma with felonies for what even his superiors acknowledge were unintentional cut-and-paste errors. They then effectively ended Sharma’s law enforcement career by sending out so-called “Brady notices” to 90 members of the Clark County bar, informing them that Sharma could no longer be trusted to testify truthfully in court.

So, put another way, Gathe oversaw the destruction of Sharma’s nine-year career based on the complaint of an ex-employee he was prepared to fire for cause, and who was ethically bound not to use what she had learned while working for the city against the city or its employees.

“I’m saddended that the city attorney’s office, which I trusted, conspired to rob me of the career I loved,” Sharma says.

Gathe defends his actions.

“The fact that the initial complaint came from Josephine Townsend was irrelevant,” he says. “Regardless of whether there were or were not issues regarding Ms. Townsend’s credibility…the decision to further investigate her allegations was reviewed by several individuals of my office as well as [Sharma’s superior].”

Nonetheless, last month Vancouver agreed to pay $1.65 million to Sharma, a Portland resident now working as a Providence ER nurse, what Jury Verdicts Northwest says is the largest employment settlement in Northwest history.