SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) – A former Savannah Fire Department Battalion Chief is suing the Fire Chief and City of Savannah, according to HKM Employment Attorneys.
According to the attorneys, the City of Savannah and the Savannah Fire Department are facing new allegations of racial discrimination and bias from former Savannah Fire Battalion Chief Jeffrey Croslen. Croslen says he was passed over repeatedly for promotion in favor of less qualified white candidates and Chief Elzie Kitchen and other city officials tried to force him to resign and eventually demoted him when he spoke out.
In the lawsuit, it is pointed out that while Kitchen is Black, all but two of SFD’s 19 upper management positions are held by White men and the department “has a long and entrenched history of passing over qualified African-American officers for top-level leadership positions.”
Croslen says his 2020 promotion only happened after at least four tries and roughly 14 years of struggle. Attorneys say the lawsuit details how, when he finally was promoted by former SFD Chief Derik Minard, he told Croslen that, given his abilities and credentials, he should have long ago been promoted to senior leadership.
According to attorneys, in 2020, Croslen was one of only two Black battalion chiefs at SFD. They say both were promoted by Minard and the other 14 battalion chiefs were white.
Attorneys also say in 2022, when Croslen applied as a candidate for the two open Assistant Chief positions, he was again rejected. Croslen’s attorneys allege he was the most accomplished candidate serving 13 years longer as a ranking officer than his closest competition.
According to the lawsuit, this was due in large part to Chief Kitchen’s decision that only one of the available positions could be filled by a Black candidate while the other was reserved for a white candidate.
Attorneys say that after voicing his concerns, Croslen was suspended, forced to undergo psychological evaluation and counseling, threatened and, when he refused to resign, was demoted to Captain.
“Jeffrey Croslen has served the Savannah Fire Department with honor and distinction for nearly forty years,” said Croslen’s lead attorney Artur Davis of HKM Employment Attorneys. “Yet there has been an effort to break his spirit and his career because he has had the nerve to challenge this view that there is such a thing as Black jobs and white jobs in this city’s fire department.”
Copyright 2024 WTOC. All rights reserved.
