Former Mobile police chief Paul Prine is suing Mayor Sandy Stimpson and others, alleging his termination earlier this year came after months of conspiracies against him. The lawsuit was filed on Christmas Eve in the Circuit Court of Mobile County.
Mayor Sandy Stimpson, Stimpson's chief of staff James Barber, public safety director Rob Lasky, Councilmen CJ Small, Joel Daves, Cory Penn, William Carroll, Ben Reynolds, former U.S. Attorney Kenyen Brown, the Thompson Coburn law firm, Powers Consulting Group and former FBI agent Tyrone Powers are the defendants in the 30-page lawsuit.
The complaint details a timeline of events. It claims that although Barber was no longer the police chief, he "continued to assert control over the Mobile Police Department (MPD)."
The lawsuit alleges much of the issues between Prine and other city leaders began with the in-custody death of Jawan Dallas on July 2, 2023. Between the death of Dallas and five other high-profile use of force incidents, public outcry led to actions that Prine believes were illegal, despite a "no-bill" status returned on all six cases by a Mobile County grand jury.
"Barber became tired of the Dallas family making a barrage of public attacks on the administration of the City," the lawsuit states. "On or about October 21, 2023, Barber called Prine into his office to discuss the negative attention surrounding the Dallas matter and told him that he had leaked the Dallas autopsy report to Byron Day, a local news anchor with WALA Fox 10."
"Barber wanted Prine to be a second credible source to the report, however, Prine refused because leaking the autopsy to the media while the grand jury was considering the matter for an indictment was illegal or at best unethical," the filing continues. "Barber began his crusade to remove Prine as Chief after Prine refused to engage in illegal conduct."
In November 2023, the lawsuit states Barber told Prine that the city council was considering a vote of no confidence against him. It states that Barber's wife called and texted Prine's wife about the impending vote, which Prine believed was Barber's way of pushing him to resign. Prine said he made a verbal grievance.
The city administration hired former U.S. attorney Kenyen Brown to review police department policies and practices in January.
Prine alleges no formal investigation was conducted concerning the grievance. The lawsuit states that even a council investigation into the grievances limited the scope to written grievances only.
The lawsuit accuses Barber of hiring his friend, Kenyen Brown, who served on the board of directors of the Project Thrive Foundation with Barber. The foundation is an initiative by the MPD to support victims of gun violence.
"Brown is Barber's friend, which is why Barber went to Washington D.C. to hire a lawyer, rather than a competent, unbiased attorney from the state of Alabama," the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit called the investigation a "witch hunt" and a "hit piece" against Prine to cause irreparable damage to his character and to support his termination. Prine alleges several statements attributed to him in the Brown report were false and made up to disparage him.
Stimpson previously admitted the report included false information concerning an officer's involvement in an incident with a student at Accel Academy. He did not state that any information about Prine was false.
Still, following the report, Stimpson said he regretted not firing Prine sooner.
Attorneys for Prine allege police officers involved in the use of force incidents were never interviewed by Brown during the investigation.
"The people that Brown interviewed with were selected by Barber and were friends of Barber," the lawsuit states. "Brown's disparagement of Prine was both intentional, malicious, and done at the direction of Stimpson and Barber."
In January, Prine filed a written grievance against Lasky, stating he conspired with Barber to get the Gulf Coast Technology Center commander Kevin Levy, to "file a false and damaging report against Prine" regarding the Echo Stop program. The grievance also included allegations that Lasky made disparaging comments about Prine.
Prine claims he told Brown about his record of lowering violent crime and attrition and voiced concerns about possible vindictive actions taken against him. However, he said those issues were not included in the Brown report.
On March 27, Prine was offered severance and retirement and protection of his reputation. His other option was termination and public disparagement of his reputation. He refused to make a deal and said he was threatened.
"On April 9, 2024, Prine received threats to accept the deal, or the City administration would have no choice but to release information to the media about Prine being on administrative leave," the lawsuit states. "Once again, a threat to disparage Prine."
"Someone with the City administration leaked to WKRG 5 that there had been a shake up with MPD command," the complaint continues. "[City attorney Ricardo] Woods advised Prine that the deal was no longer available, however, Prine could go public with his retirement with a script prepared by the mayor's office for the media. Prine refused to go public with the script prepared by the mayor's office knowing that the Brown report would be used to ruin his reputation and without a non-disparagement in place."
Prine was terminated by a council vote on April 30.
The lawsuit lists statements allegedly made against Prine by Stimpson, Small, Daves, Reynolds and Penn. It also lists statements made in the Brown report followed by Prine's rebuttals and what he calls "truths." He says many of the claims were taken out of context to misrepresent the truth.
The lawsuit seeks $50,000 plus cost of court for slander from Brown, Thompson Coburn, law firm, Powers Consulting and Powers; $50,000 plus court costs for slander per quod from the defendants listed; $50,000 plus court costs for libel per se from Brown and Thompson Coburn law firm; $50,000 plus court costs for libel per quod from Brown, Thompson Coburn law firm, Powers Consulting, Powers, Carroll and Stimpson; and $50,000 plus court costs for civil conspiracy from the defendants listed.
1819 News has reached out to the city and other parties for comment. Stimpson’s office refused to comment.
Prine said he could not make a public statement at this time.
Prine Lawsuit by Erica Thomas on Scribd
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email erica.thomas@1819news.com.
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