Cop-Gone-Wild Scandal: Ex-Officer Sues City for $3 Million, Alleges 'Racial Prejudice' Got Him Fired While White Colleagues Stayed on Force
Former La Vergne police officer Lewis Powell has filed a $3 million lawsuit against the city after being exposed in a sex scandal within the department.
Dec. 21 2023, Published 6:30 p.m. ET
Former La Vergne police officer Lewis Powell has filed a $3 million lawsuit against the city, claiming he lost his job due to "racial prejudice" while his white colleagues got to keep theirs in the wake of a sex scandal within the police department being exposed.
Tennessee-based mayor, Jason Cole, La Vergne HR Director Andrew Patton and former Police Chief Chip Davis are among the defendants, RadarOnline.com has learned. Powell is seeking a seven-figure sum in addition to front and back pay.
Powell, Tennessee-based mayor, Jason Cole, La Vergne HR Director Andrew Patton and former Police Chief Chip Davis are among the defendants.
According to the complaint, the city "terminated and defamed all the officers involved — except for those who were white and male — based at least partly on racial prejudice."
Five officers were axed from their jobs, while three others were suspended. Powell, who got fired hours after being placed on administrative leave in early February, is asking for a jury trial, plus attorney fees.
Powell was part of a group of cops in the department revealed to have sexual relationships with fellow officer Maegan Hall, who was fired in January and has since followed up with a 51-page federal lawsuit claiming she felt "trapped" and "exploited" by her superiors.
(Maegan Hall seen above) According to the complaint, the city "terminated and defamed all the officers involved — except for those who were white and male — based at least partly on racial prejudice."
She, in particular, accused Powell of taking advantage of her "psychological vulnerabilities and abused his position of authority by offering training in exchange for submission to his sexual demands."
Hall went on to accuse Powell of "trading sex acts for overlooking on-the-job mistakes; and threatening to make Ms. Hall's conditions of employment more difficult if she did not continue to participate in sex acts with him."
Powell, a 15-year law enforcement veteran, said in a counterclaim that Hall had a fetish for Black men and was pushing him for sex despite both being married.
Hall previously accused Powell of taking advantage of her "psychological vulnerabilities and abused his position of authority by offering training in exchange for submission to his sexual demands."
"Maegan Hall felt trapped in the role assigned to her at the City of La Vergne Police Department and, in an attempt to escape, she nearly killed herself," her lawsuit continued.
Hall alleged that Police Chief Davis was "no better than his subordinates, inviting Hall on lunch dates, asking her to come into his office to dance for him and questioning whether she preferred "dark, white or milk chocolate."'
Powell, a 15-year law enforcement veteran, said in a counterclaim that Hall had a fetish for Black men and was pushing him for sex despite both being married.
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In Powell's new lawsuit, he accused Davis of instructing him to lie about his relationship with Hall during an internal investigation and deny the allegations, writing, "Throughout the year 2022, Officer Hall slept around with a number of other police officers."
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