The police chief in a small town near Birmingham faces allegations of discrimination by employees and criticism for downgrading criminal charges in some cases, according to a newly unsealed report.
Nevertheless, the Tarrant city council again unanimously shot down the mayor’s effort to fire chief Wendell Major this week. The council members rejected the findings of the report, which they commissioned to investigate Mayor Wayman Newton’s allegations against the chief.
“We don’t feel it was thorough,” said councilwoman Tracie Threadford, who also serves as the mayor pro-tem, in an interview with AL.com. “It was one-sided.”
Leaders – and lawyers – for the small city of about 6,000 people spent much of Monday in court, followed by another lengthy council meeting where the battle over the fate of the police chief was a central point of debate. The fight over Major’s fate is the latest in a series of bitter fights between the mayor and council.
A Jefferson County judge unsealed the independent investigative report and ordered the city to pay Major the salary he would have drawn had the mayor not suspended him four months ago.
Hours later, Mayor Wayman Newton again called for the council to fire Chief Major, saying the report is damning.
The report, compiled by an outside attorney, alleges Major downgraded major crimes and hired friends for roles higher than their qualification.
It also says three employees in the department have filed complaints with the Equal Employment Oppourtunity Commission, alleging sex discrimination, racial discrimination and retaliation.
“Each employee that was interviewed attested to a tense and stressful work environment, primarily created by Chief Major,” Debra Black Leo, a lawyer and investigator in Birmingham, wrote in the report.
Major denied any wrongdoing and said that as the chief, he has the discretion to direct how cases are handled.
“Chief Major reclassified and downgraded serious crimes, resulting in felons not being charged and victims not being vindicated,” the report states.
The report alleged that Major, who is also a lawyer, conducted private legal work while on duty.
Leo sampled 56 cases from March to December 2023. Her report says that in 12 felony cases, Major downgraded charges.
In one case, someone fired multiple rounds into an occupied vehicle, the report states.
“Chief Major deleted the attempted murder classification and added, ‘No one was found to be injured and no property was found to be damaged. No evidence of a crime against a person or a death of a person occurred,’” Leo wrote in the report.
In another case, a woman shot at someone but missed because she was drunk, according to the report. Chief Major decided the case was not attempted murder because no one was injured, Leo wrote.
Major said he never deleted cases, but rather made sure the department brought accurate charges that could stand up in court.
The city council hired Leo to investigate allegations the mayor leveled against the chief.
Leo, in an interview with AL.com on Tuesday said her report simply reflects her findings and takes no political or legal position.
“I don’t accuse, I don’t make a decision. I just reported what I found,” Leo told AL.com.
Leo said she found that several cases were closed but later reopened as felony investigations. Some of those cases were reopened under Major’s administration, while others were reopened by the acting chief after Newton suspended Major.
“If I were a citizen of Tarrant I would be disturbed about it,” she said.
Councilwoman Threadford told AL.com that the council rejected the report because it did not include interviews with the entire police department but relied heavily on critics of the chief.
“We are the legal appointing authority over the chief of police, and we want him to work,” Councilwoman and Mayor Pro-tem Tracie Threadford told AL.com. “It’s over. Pay him.”
The mayor remained defiant and vowed to present his resolution to fire the chief at every council meeting until he gets some support.
“Sooner or later, I’ll get a second,” Newton said.
Council members then smothered any hope of that happening.
“I don’t think you’re going to ever get a second on it,” Threadford responded. “The people want Chief Major. The council wants Chief Major. We’re not letting him go. What needs to happen is he needs to be in control of the police department and get rid of the ones who are causing the dissension. So, you might as well ‘x’ this one off, because it’s not going to happen.”
Hours before the meeting, Judge Patrick Ballard ruled that the mayor had improperly suspended Chief Major without council support. Judge Ballard ordered the city to give the chief back pay for the months he was suspended. He has not been paid since Jan. 30.
Major told AL.com that the city owes him about $58,000.
“The mayor wants to contend that he has the ability to remove me temporarily, and he thinks that ‘temporary’ is till such time that the council agrees with him,” Major told AL.com. “I believe people should be paid for their work. I work diligently for them and will continue to do that as long as they’ll have me and hopefully we can get together, move forward, reduce crime in Tarrant and make Tarrant a great place to live, work and thrive.”
Judge Ballard allowed Leo’s 13-page report to be released to the public. While the report is just over a dozen pages, the entire document with attachments and supporting documents is about 700 pages.
Mayor Newton advocated for its release, saying it justified his suspension and proposed termination of the chief.
But as for the rest of the judge’s ruling, Newton remained defiant and vowed to appeal.
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