NORTH LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A Black police officer for North Las Vegas has filed a lawsuit against the city, the police chief, the former assistant chief, and a lieutenant.
Donovan McIntosh, who has been with the North Las Vegas Police Department for 21 years, filed the lawsuit on May 26.
According to the lawsuit, McIntosh was appointed by former Chief of Police Alex Perez to become the first Black male recruiter for the police department in August 2017.
He claims he received positive reviews until the department was taken over by Police Chief Pamela Ojeda, former Assistant Chief Clinton Ryan and Lt. Alejandro Rodriguez.
Ryan, who was promoted to lieutenant in the summer of 2017, reportedly made derogatory remarks to McIntosh but did not do the same to non-Black employees.
The lawsuit claims that Ryan did so with the approval of Ojeda and when Ryan was promoted to assistant chief, it became worse.
The lawsuit also claims that Black police officers were fired without cause in 2000 because the department did not want Black officers.
The lawsuit also alleges that the department is “teeming” with nepotism and many members of the department have the same religious background and cultural mindset, which includes an element of racism that has been passed down from generation to generation.
The lawsuit accused Rodriguez of retaliating when McIntosh mentioned in passing that it would be nice to get the feedback of an outside consultant related to the department’s recruiting efforts. McIntosh also claims that Rodriguez placed false recruiting numbers in McIntosh’s personnel file. Additionally, Rodriguez reportedly accused McIntosh of telling a recruit to lie about his background.
Shortly after, McIntosh was put back on patrol by Rodriguez.
Additionally, McIntosh was removed from the department’s Honor Guard in 2019. McIntosh claims that he was removed because he left an event early. However, McIntosh says that he received permission to do so and it was just an excuse.
In March 2019, Ojeda reportedly opened an Internal Affairs investigation related to the recruit that McIntosh was accused of telling to lie. According to the lawsuit, Owed reportedly knew that the allegation was false but kept the investigation open for several months anyway.
13 Action News reached out to the North Las Vegas Police Department. They said they are unable to comment on pending legal matters.
