The most recent crisis to rock South Fulton’s administration is the public examination of the police chief. The City Council requested a forensic examination of Mayor Khalid Kamau’s public spending earlier this year.
Avery Bragg, a former detective, claimed in his lawsuit that Meadows challenged him for defying authority when he told the mayor and City Council about his internal affairs complaint against a supervisor and other coworkers, which he believed was handled unethically.
As per Bragg’s lawsuit, Meadows stated to Bragg in a recorded conversation: “It doesn’t even matter what they (Human Resources) say, because at the end of the day, when we do our investigation inside the police department, that’s what I’m going to go with.”
According to his claim, Bragg was let go on December 16, roughly two weeks later.
According to Bragg’s lawsuit, he reported the problems to elected officials after being informed by several individuals, including a now-deceased internal affairs officer, that unless he stepped outside the chain of command, nothing would be done about his internal affairs complaint.
According to the report, Meadows defrauded Bragg of his on-call salary for years and let a relative get away with a crime when the man, who was allegedly in possession of illegal substances, leaped out of a stolen car that Bragg was pursuing.
Former police Maj. Theron Griffin, the other plaintiff, claims the city retaliated against him for reporting the chief’s illegal and immoral attempt to sway the results of polygraph tests.
According to his lawsuit, in February 2023, Griffin saw a South Fulton police officer physically assault another officer. According to the lawsuit, Griffin was told he was being investigated two weeks after he reported the event because the officer he accused of assault had lodged an internal affairs complaint accusing him of sexual harassment and workplace violence.
The lawsuit claims that although Meadows demoted Griffin to captain, all allegations against him were dismissed.
A police lieutenant accused Griffin of lying in another case earlier this year and suggested that he be fired. The lawsuit claims that although Meadows told Griffin that the untruthfulness accusation was overly severe, he nevertheless mandated that he take a polygraph test to make sure he hadn’t attempted to mislead the lieutenant.
The lawsuit claims that Meadows changed the test questions to add unrelated inquiries, such as whether Griffin had spoken with HR regarding careless hiring.
According to his lawsuit, Griffin’s polygraph test revealed no evidence of deceit; yet, he was informed a week later, on March 12, that he was being dismissed for allegedly making false allegations in his whistleblower email to HR.
Both Bragg’s and Griffin’s lawsuits were submitted on July 14. The start of an independent investigation of the police department was unanimously approved by the City Council four days later.
A department head whose department is the focus of an investigation authorized by the city council must be placed on paid administrative leave, according to a Tuesday amendment to human resources policies made by the City Council.
As the council discussed the resolution, City Council member Natasha Williams-Brown stated, “When we get here, there is a very deep problem that needs to be uprooted.” And that cannot occur with the current personnel who have ignored, indulged, and allowed the issue to initially reach a critical mass.
