WASHINGTON — Accusations flew in court during closing arguments in a whistleblower lawsuit against the D.C. government and Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier, and the case is now before a jury.
Capt. Hilton Burton says he was demoted two full ranks and removed as commander of the Special Operations Division because of his remarks to the D.C. Council, which followed the attention-grabbing 2011 police escort of Charlie Sheen from Dulles International Airport by Special Operations officers. Burton told the council celebrity escorts were routine and a longstanding department practice.
Burton鈥檚 lawyer, Marc Wilhite, said the way in which Burton was demoted showed 鈥渃lear evidence of retaliation鈥� by police leaders, who Wilhite said were angered by Burton鈥檚 council testimony.
After being demoted to captain, Burton was assigned to the Medical Services Branch where his job was to research common police injuries. That was followed by Burton being detailed out to the fire department to help with internal investigations, something Wilhite called 鈥渁lmost unprecedented.鈥�
Speaking about Lanier, Wilhite bluntly said 鈥渟he lied鈥� when she stated that D.C. police do not escort celebrities, simply because they are celebrities.
He also said that 鈥渞ed carpet escorts鈥� were performed for people, including Wizards star John Wall, who was escorted by police from Dulles International Airport after being drafted in 2010. On the witness stand Monday, Lanier said she did not know anything about a handful of escorts, including Wall鈥檚, which happened during that time period. 鈥淚 find that hard to believe,鈥� Wilhite said.
But Defense attorney Steve Anderson argued there were legitimate reasons to remove Burton from his post, and that Burton鈥檚 testimony before the D.C. Council did not trigger any whistleblower protections because he was offering 鈥渙pinions,鈥� not disclosures.
During her testimony, Lanier had said Burton mishandled standoff situations, was too aggressive in doing crowd control for a parade, and gave officers in his division overtime assignments that should have been spread around the entire police department.
In his closing remarks, Anderson said that one standoff situation, which ended with the death of a man as police moved in, left Burton thinking 鈥渕y job is in jeopardy鈥� just before he testified before the council. Anderson says Burton was already on 鈥渢hin ice鈥� and decided to 鈥渆ngage in some pre-emptive action鈥� by casting blame on Lanier.
The jury deliberated for much of the afternoon Tuesday but was unable to reach a verdict. They are set to resume deliberations Wednesday morning in D.C. Superior Court.
