Baltimore Police face discrimination suit despite thorough two-year investigation

After Johnson testified before a grand jury in January 2019 about the incident, Internal Affairs opened an investigation into her conduct that June. Johnson later testified against Koushall at his criminal trial in fall 2019, where he was convicted of second-degree assault and misconduct in office. 

The Baltimore Police Department believed it had done everything right in investigating Johnson. It spent two years gathering evidence. It held a two-day hearing in May 2022. It gave Johnson advance notice, access to case files, legal representation, and the chance to present evidence and cross-examine witnesses. The trial board reviewed all the evidence and sustained every charge against her. 

But the federal appeals court found that none of that necessarily matters if other employees outside the protected class received better treatment for comparable misconduct. 

Johnson pointed to 13 white or non-Black officers who she says committed similar or worse offenses but kept their jobs. Some were merely suspended. Others had their charges dropped entirely. Several were later promoted. 

The most glaring example involved Koushall himself. Despite his criminal conviction for assault and misconduct from that same nightclub incident, he was never terminated or forced to resign. He remains employed by the department today.