Gay San Francisco Cop Receives $225K Settlement in Discrimination Case

Officer Brendan Mannix, of the San Francisco  Police Department, received a $225,000 settlement to not go to trial. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to award the money top settle the case rather than proceed with the lawsuit.

The Bay Area Reporter: Mannix was 28 when he filed his lawsuit back in 2018 after allegedly experiencing continued harassment by Sergeants Patrick Tobin and Lawrence McDevitt, as Mission Local reported. The suit, filed in San Francisco Superior Court, alleged the two sergeants in  Central Station, where Mannix was transferred in 2016, frequently made comments to Mannix relating to his sexual orientation. The suit claimed the officers commonly called Mannix “such a queen,” and “too dramatic.”

When Mannix did something that the sergeants considered stereotypically gay, the suit claimed they said, “Ugh, you gays,” or “God, you gays.”

The harassment “was so severe, widespread, and/or persistent that a reasonable gay man in Plaintiff´s circumstances would have considered the work environment to be hostile or abusive,” according to statements in the original filing.

Mannix’s lawsuit alleged numerous hostile acts by Tobin and McDevitt. In addition to snide comments and mockery, the suit included charges that Mannix’s colleagues failed to support him when he called in for back-up.

According to the lawsuit documents, in April 2017, Mannix witnessed a robbery in progress. Pursuing the suspect down Market Street, he radioed for back-up but “no back-up arrived immediately.” The young officer nabbed the suspect on his own and, fortunately, officers from another station were nearby and able to help, the complaint states.

“Mr. Mannix remained on the scene for over an hour,” the documents read, “but no sergeant from his station arrived, despite SFPD policy.”

In settling the suit, the city did not admit any wrongdoing by the San Francisco Police Department. “Given the inherent costs of continued litigation, we believe the proposed settlement is an appropriate resolution,” Jen Kwart, a spokeswoman for the city attorney’s office, told Mission Local. “There is no admission of liability on the part of SFPD or the city.”

Mannix is still an officer at the Central Station. Tobin has retired, but McDevitt and Ciriaco are still with the department. A police spokesman contacted by the Reporter declined to say if they have been disciplined.