PORTSMOUTH, Va. (AP) — The police chief in the Virginia city of Portsmouth has been fired, three months after her department charged a state senator and several others with defacing a Confederate monument.
The Virginian-Pilot reported Monday that Portsmouth Police Chief Angela Greene held a press conference and said she received a termination letter. She had been placed on leave in September.
Greene said she plans to file a wrongful termination lawsuit.
“I believe I was wrongfully terminated for upholding the law,” she said.
In August, the police department charged state Sen. Louise Lucas and others with conspiracy to commit a felony and injury to a monument in excess of $1,000. The charges stemmed from a protest in June that drew hundreds of people to the city’s Confederate monument. Heads were ripped off some of the monument’s statues while one was pulled down, critically injuring a demonstrator.
The charges were filed without the cooperation of the city’s prosecutor. And legal observers have questioned the strength of the case.
The senator’s attorney, Don Scott, has said she left the scene hours before the statue was torn down. And Lucas, who is the state Senate’s President Pro Tempore, has said she will be vindicated.
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