In a lawsuit filed last week in federal court, a female member of the Norcross Police Department accuses the agency's now-former chief of "blatant sexism."
Lt. Randa Hafez claims Warren Summers, who retired as Norcross' police chief in February, denied her a 2014 promotion in favor of a less qualified male colleague. That colleague, Bill Grogan, is now the department's acting police chief.
According to the suit — which asks for said promotion and unspecified compensation for Hafez's "emotional distress" and "loss of enjoyment of life" — Hafez had hoped to replace a retiring Norcross police captain. She approached Summers with her wishes and her credentials, including a law degree, more than a decade of law enforcement experience and four years' service as a lieutenant.
Grogan, the suit claims, had a bachelor's degree and was still in his probationary period as a lieutenant when he was promoted to the vacant captain position. Hafez believes she was not chosen because she was a woman.
Summers also retaliated against Hafez after she filed formal complaints with the city and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the suit claims. The document accuses Summers of, among other things, excluding Hafez from "operational and administrative meetings," "ignoring her important work-related communications" and "unjustifiably downgrading" ratings in her performance review.
Grogan confirmed Thursday that Hafez still works with the Norcross Police Department, but said the agency could not comment on the suit. Summers, a former prosecutor who now has a criminal law practice in Conyers, said he also could not comment on pending litigation.
Hafez's lawsuit is the second to name Summers as a defendant in recent weeks.
On May 14, a bystander shot by a Norcross officer outside a local Waffle House in 2014 filed a lawsuit accusing the officer, Jayson Sobhani, of acting recklessly during the incident. Sobhani was allegedly attempting to shoot a different man, who was firing his own weapon into a crowd, during the incident. Gwinnett County District Attorney previously declined to pursue criminal charges in the shooting.
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