You have to love the financial ability of local communities in California to hire the highest paid people in the nation.
“A former Baldwin Park police chief who was fired in 2017 — just 49 days after he was hired — will receive a $4.9 million settlement to resolve a lawsuit against the city alleging he was discriminated against, harassed and then fired for investigating and reporting what he believed to be unlawful conduct within the Police Department and City Hall.
Baldwin Park’s now-former insurance provider, the Independent Cities Risk Management Authority, authorized the payment to former Chief David Salcedo earlier this month. Under the terms, the authority will pay the bulk of the settlement, roughly $4.8 million, while Baldwin Park is expected to pay the remaining $100,000 out of pocket to cover lost wages, according to Mayor Emmanuel Estrada, who was first elected in 2020.
Why was he fired after only 49 days? As Police Chief he became aware of corruption in the city and at City Hall—o to protect themselves, the council fired him. Now the people of Baldwin Park will pay.
Former California police chief on the payroll for just 49 days settles suit for $4.9 million
‘It’s the community that loses,’ Mayor Emmanuel Estrada said of the payout to former Chief David Salcedo
By Jason Henry, Southern California News Group, 8/18/21
A former Baldwin Park police chief who was fired in 2017 — just 49 days after he was hired — will receive a $4.9 million settlement to resolve a lawsuit against the city alleging he was discriminated against, harassed and then fired for investigating and reporting what he believed to be unlawful conduct within the Police Department and City Hall.
Baldwin Park’s now-former insurance provider, the Independent Cities Risk Management Authority, authorized the payment to former Chief David Salcedo earlier this month. Under the terms, the authority will pay the bulk of the settlement, roughly $4.8 million, while Baldwin Park is expected to pay the remaining $100,000 out of pocket to cover lost wages, according to Mayor Emmanuel Estrada, who was first elected in 2020.
In an interview, Estrada, who campaigned on ending costly litigation, expressed frustration with the high payout. The settlement amounts to about $100,000 for each day that Salcedo worked.
“There’s nothing we can do about the past except mitigate it, and that’s what we’re trying to do,” Estrada said. “It’s frustrating because at the end of the day, it’s not the prior city council that loses, it’s not any of the people who made these decisions that lose, it’s the community that loses.”
The Baldwin Park City Council hired Salcedo, a former Inglewood police officer, on a 3-2 vote in January 2017, then turned around and dismissed him without cause in another 3-2 vote that March.
In the lawsuit filed in September 2017, Salcedo alleged his firing came after refused requests from then-Councilman Ricardo Pacheco to “fix” a ticket, to tow a truck that was legally parked, to leave no-parking signs up in violation of city code, and to send a patrol car to investigate a vacant house on Pacheco’s street. Salcedo allegedly reported his concerns to the mayor, city manager and city attorney.
The councilman — who is not a defendant in the suit — was left “angry” and “exasperated” by Salcedo’s refusal to perform the tasks, according to the plaintiff’s court papers. Pacheco, who pleaded guilty to taking bribes in an unrelated criminal case earlier this year, previously denied the allegations, calling them “outrageously wrong.”
Salcedo’s lawsuit alleged he faced discrimination from white officers in the department who said they would “do their best to make sure he didn’t last more than a year, at most,” according to the complaint.
The former police chief suffers from carpal tunnel syndrome and has back problems, but when he asked the city for user-friendly items to alleviate his pain, he was told he had to pay for them, the lawsuit stated. He also alleged the city took medical documents from his office right after his termination.
In court papers, the defense attorneys denied any wrongdoing on the part of Baldwin Park.
“Plaintiff is disingenuous in claiming his termination had to do with any purported whistleblowing, his race, age or claimed disability,” the city’s lawyers stated in their court papers.
“Rather, he did not have the support of the City Council, the body he reported to, after it became clear he was the wrong fit as chief of police.”
Salcedo was just one of eight police chiefs who served Baldwin Park during a particularly tumultuous seven-year period. Three were fired and four stepped in temporarily as chiefs because of the firings. One retired.
All three fired chiefs sued, including Salcedo, former Chief Lili Hadsell and former Chief Steve McLean, whose case is still pending.
Hadsell sued the city for gender discrimination and was awarded $7 million by a Los Angeles County Superior Court jury in March 2019.
McLean alleges city officials conspired against him to prevent him from implementing a test that would allow police officers to move up in ranks, because they wanted to give the promotions to specific people. McLean placed himself on a stress leave, prompting the city to accuse him of abandoning his post.
At least four other police officers have filed similar lawsuits, alleging they were discriminated against because they were not Latino.
Earlier this month, the Baldwin Park City Council approved a restructuring of the Police Department’s command structure, eliminating the “assistant police chief” and “police commander” positions and replacing them with lieutenants and captains. The city hired its latest police chief, Robert Lopez, in February. Both the Police Officers Association and the Police Management Employee Association supported the reorganization, according to a staff report.
Reforms are ongoing, but Mayor Estrada said the changes made so far were in part because “too many people were moving up in the ranks without the proper qualifications.” The city wants a more “professional and transparent” hiring and promotion process, he said.
“We’re doing a lot of things to make sure the Police Department is structured properly and that our officers are comfortable with it,” he said.
Estrada is hopeful that the city’s efforts will prevent other legal disputes in the future.
