MD police sergeant not immune from racial bias suit, 4th Circuit rules

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A former Maryland State Police sergeant is not immune from claims of racial bias, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled last week.

Sgt. William Heath is not entitled to qualified immunity at this point in a lawsuit brought by two Black officers assigned to a Maryland State Police task force. They say they were excluded from overtime opportunities and that a supervisor sent a racist image.

Don Gordon and Terrell Jones, who were members of the department’s multi-agency task force focused on organized crime and drug enforcement in Baltimore, say they were excluded from informal meetings and group texts in which opportunities for lucrative overtime work were offered.

The plaintiffs also say Heath failed to discipline Cpl. Jason Oros after he sent the task force an offensive image depicting George Floyd days after he was killed by a Minneapolis Police officer in 2020. According to the complaint, the image depicted “a superimposed nude African-American male with exposed and enlarged genitals sitting on George Floyd’s head and neck area on the street near the rear bumper of a Minneapolis police car.”

Lawyers for Heath and Oros did not respond to requests for comment. State police declined to comment, citing pending litigation.

Gordon and Jones sued in July 2022, alleging racial discrimination and a racially hostile work environment. In September 2023, Maryland U.S. District Chief Judge George Russell III dismissed the racial discrimination claims but allowed the hostile work environment claims to proceed. Russell denied qualified immunity and allowed the claim against Heath to proceed.

In denying the claims of racial discrimination, Russell wrote that the plaintiffs’ allegations were not specific enough. He wrote that “they provide only sweeping, conclusory statements that other, unidentified task force members had similar training, skills, and experience and that those task force members received unspecified promotions or other employment opportunities.”

Heath was the only defendant to appeal.

Heath argued that the plaintiffs failed to show he was personally responsible for creating a racially hostile work environment and that the law on the subject was not clearly established at the time of the alleged conduct.

On June 24, Fourth Circuit Judge Roger Gregory, joined by judges Robert King and Stephanie Thacker, wrote that Jones and Gordon had plausibly alleged Heath’s “participation in and tacit authorization” of a racist environment, exceeding the “low bar” required at this point.

“Viewed in the light most favorable to Plaintiffs, the Amended Complaint plausibly alleges much more than a stray slight,” Gregory wrote.

“At this stage of litigation, a plaintiff need not plead that every discrete act was overtly racial. The question is whether the allegations support a plausible inference that race explains the pattern.”

Joseph Spicer, of Cohen Harris in Towson, who represents Gordon and Jones, said, “My clients and I are happy with the court’s decision.”

State police confirmed Heath and Oros are no longer with the department. 

The lawsuit is not the only time the department has been accused of racism.

The same month that Gordon and Jones sued — July 2022 — the U.S. Department of Justice opened an investigation into hiring practices that allegedly discriminated against Black people and women. In 2024, the agency agreed to change its hiring practices and to pay $2.75 million to 48 job applicants for failing tests that were found to be discriminatory.

Additionally, a proposed class-action lawsuit over alleged discrimination is pending in federal court. In that case, the plaintiffs allege officers of color faced more severe discipline, were promoted less often and more. Discovery is ongoing, and the plaintiffs have not yet filed a motion for class certification.

This story has been updated.