GREENBELT, Md. — The start of what may be a landmark civil case for police accountability in Maryland kicked off in Greenbelt’s US District Court on Monday.
Capitol Heights Police Chief Mohamed Magassouba claims he was discriminated against for two and a half years while working at the Prince George’s County Police Department.
Before joining the Capitol Heights Police Department in 2022, Magassouba worked for the Prince George’s County Police Department (PGCPD).
Magassouba’s attorney, Jordan Howlette, says Magassouba was an excellent officer who received multiple awards for his service with PGCPD. However, in 2019, Magassouba was responding as a backup to assist a White officer who was arresting a Black woman in Prince George’s County.
Howlette says when Magassouba refused to change his witness statement to justify the use of force during the arrest, his superiors turned on him almost immediately. Howlette alleges that for the next 30 months, his client was discriminated against.
Court documents outline several incidents used to attack Magassouba, including disparaging comments about his Guinean heritage. Ultimately, Magassouba was fired in 2021.
Court documents show the PGCPD has denied all of his claims of racial discrimination, retaliation, and a hostile work environment. Lawyers representing the defendants in this case, including the police department and specific officers he worked with, said in a legal response that Magassouba’s termination was “based on reasonable factors other than race and national origin.”
In court, Howlette told the jury that Magassouba had to seek out medical treatment for anxiety. A psychologist warned the department about the impact this treatment had on Magassouba.
However, the attorney representing Magassouba’s superiors at the time argued that Magassouba was not the model officer that he was portrayed as, and that when he was applying to join Prince George’s County Police, he failed to disclose that he had been arrested twice in the past.
The case being tried occurred while Hank Stawinski was chief of Prince George’s County Police. Stawinski resigned in 2020 after an expert report related to a separate federal lawsuit filed by the Hispanic National Law Enforcement Officers Association detailed alleged incidents of racial discrimination, retaliation, and abuse within the department.