A group of former Tarrant County deputies are suing the Sheriff’s Office, alleging misconduct, wrongful termination, and discrimination.
Phil Hill and Brandon Walker served as deputies and allege they were wrongfully terminated after raising allegations against office members. As a result, they filed whistleblower lawsuits against the Sheriff’s Office.
“The negligence has just been ongoing for so many years,” former deputy Phil Hill said, reported CBS Dallas. “When I came forward, everything really went downhill quick. I became kind of public enemy No. 1.”
“I witnessed them threaten family members with arrest if they didn’t give out information on where the wanted person was,” Hill added.
The Sheriff’s Office has responded to the lawsuits, stating it is politically motivated.
“We believe this is a politically motivated attack against Sheriff Waybourn and the Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office. If you look at those who organized today’s press conference, they all have an agenda. This is nothing more than political grandstanding by those with an axe to grind. The Sheriff’s political opponent was invited and all three former TCSO employees have pending litigation. It would be inappropriate to speak about those cases until they have worked their way through the courts. We have confidence in the DA’s office to move these cases forward and reach the appropriate outcome,” the Sheriff’s Office statement to CBS read.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Tarrant County Commissioners have backed proposed reforms from the Sheriff’s Office to address the department’s challenges.
“I think that it is very important that policies, procedures, and structure in any organization are set in order to be the most professional as possible,” Commissioner Manny Ramirez said at last month’s commissioners’ court meeting.
“Commissioner Ramirez supports the Sheriff’s plan in these proposals. [The Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office] has been working on much of this for some time now, and we are glad to have supportive commissioners,” Jennifer Gabbart, the sheriff’s office’s chief of staff, previously told The Dallas Express.