A Baltimore Police officer who says his bosses branded him an “action junkie” and parked him on desk duty is now suing the department in federal court. In a complaint filed on Wednesday, Officer Jordan D. Thomas names the Baltimore Police Department and alleges supervisors retaliated against him after publicly criticizing his on-the-job conduct. Thomas is representing himself in the case.
Thomas’s filing says the dispute started when he left his post to respond to a February shooting in the Belair-Edison neighborhood and was later rebuked by his chain of command. He alleges two sergeants called it “stupid” for him to unholster his weapon while driving and says he was first praised and then criticized for sliding across a squad car’s hood on icy pavement to reach a colleague. The complaint also states that Thomas has been administratively suspended since late February, that his police powers are suspended while he works at a desk, and that it has been “extremely difficult” for him to obtain overtime pay, according to The Daily Record.
The February encounter Thomas cites is the same incident that involved the fatal shooting of Dwight Hawkins, a case now under review by the Maryland Attorney General’s Independent Investigations Division. The shooting prompted protests and led the department to release body-worn camera footage while that review is ongoing. Family members and some neighbors have disputed parts of the police account and criticized how the department handled the scene, as reported by WBAL.
Backlog strains internal discipline
The lawsuit lands as the department wrestles with a crowded disciplinary pipeline that oversight officials say could drag on reform. A federal judge and department leaders have flagged a backlog of roughly 600 cases involving more than 700 officers who are waiting for administrative trial boards, a bottleneck the court has warned could hamper progress under the consent decree, as reported by The Daily Record.
What’s next
The complaint is now filed in U.S. District Court for Maryland, and the court has not yet posted a calendar for responses or hearings. The Baltimore Police Department declined to comment through a spokesperson who said the agency does not comment on pending litigation. Because Thomas is acting pro se, the pace and shape of the case may differ from lawsuits driven by outside counsel.
Legal notes
Administrative suspension removes an officer’s arrest powers while investigations unfold but typically preserves base pay, which can leave officers financially squeezed if overtime disappears. The outcome of Thomas’s suit will turn on the facts he has put in his complaint and on how the department responds in court and through its internal processes.
