California lawsuit names Boise deputy police chief, says he allowed ‘unconstitutional’ behavior

Boise’s deputy chief of police faces a lawsuit in California alleging that he oversaw a department knowing that officers were repeatedly violating the civil rights of local residents, at the same time they were sending other racist, misogynistic and vulgar text messages.

The lawsuit, filed on Wednesday in the Northern District Court of California, alleges that Tammany Brooks — chief of police in Antioch, California, from 2017 until 2021 — was aware of racism, excessive force and “unconstitutional” actions in the department, and that he “failed to take any remedial measures, and tolerated, encouraged and ratified the repeated and widespread pattern and practice of unconstitutional actions,” according to the complaint.

The allegations stem from a joint investigation by the Contra Costa District Attorney and the FBI. It was disclosed earlier this month as part of a criminal investigation into possible crimes of “moral turpitude.” The disclosure included text messages from Antioch police officers that date to 2019.

The lawsuit was filed by residents who say they experienced “malicious treatment” by Antioch officers during the period the text messages were sent. It also was filed on behalf of a plaintiff who was killed in a police shooting in 2021.

Before coming to Boise, Brooks spent his entire career in Antioch. He began working at the department in 1995, left in 2021 and was hired in Boise in January 2022.

“From 2019-2022, Antioch police officers and sergeants exchanged hundreds of salacious text messages riddled with vile and offensive language about community members,” according to the complaint. “In those threads, officers bragged about using excessive force and beating arrest subjects so severely that the officers themselves hurt their hands and feet.”

The lawsuit lists interactions between Antioch officers and residents, including an arrest that involved an alleged beating and an officer-involved shooting.

After the arrest of one defendant, Trent Allen, officers texted about trying to knock Allen unconscious and called him racial and homophobic slurs. One officer also sent other texts which the complaint alleges boasted about “violating civil rights” and “only stopping (people) cuz they black (sic).”

The release of the report has led to protests in Antioch, an East Bay city of about 115,000 with a large minority population. The current police chief, Steven Ford, told CNN that he condemns “racially abhorrent content and incomprehensible behavior being attributed to members of the Antioch Police Department in media reports.”

Brooks became Antioch’s police chief in 2017 and was heralded as the first Black individual to lead the city’s department.

The lawsuit does not accuse Brooks of engaging in the text messages, but it claims that he had the power to stop them — and showed “deliberate indifference.” The lawsuit says he and others “tacitly authorized, encouraged, or condoned” the behavior of the officers.

The lawsuit also says the harm to Antioch residents who had the interactions with police were the “proximate result of said customs, policies, patterns, and/or practices” instituted by Brooks, the city and other leaders.

In January 2021, officers at the department texted about how police officers in nearby Oakland had been required to relinquish their cellphones as part of an internal investigation. In response, one Antioch officer texted, “I think Chief (Tammany Brooks) knew something we don’t when he sent that email about his new work phone number and talking about PRA requests.”

PRA likely stands for Public Records Act.

A spokesperson for the Boise Police Department, Haley Williams, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for the Antioch Police Department declined to comment.

Mayor Lauren McLean told the Idaho Statesman on Friday that she had not seen the lawsuit.

The joint probe is also investigating officers in the nearby city of Pittsburg, California.

A second federal lawsuit, filed in December in California, accuses Antioch officers of mistreating people who were protesting Brooks’ retirement in 2021. The lawsuit says that officers engaged in misconduct “at the direction of” Brooks.

In February, U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas S. Hixon dismissed the claims against Brooks, ruling that they had no factual basis and were based only on “legal conclusions and speculation.”