DaytonDailyNews.com

DAYTON — A common pleas jury has found former Dayton Police Maj. Barbara L. Temple was the victim of racial discrimination when she was fired in 2002.

On Wednesday, the jury will hear additional testimony about the amount of damages Temple deserves for her wrongful discharge.

The jury found Friday that former Dayton Police Chief William McManus and former interim City Manager John Thomas are individually liable, in addition to the city of Dayton.

McManus, an assistant chief from Washington, D.C., started as Dayton's police chief in January 2002. Temple, an officer for 27 years, was one of seven finalists for the job.

Temple was discharged June 30, 2002, after she refused an offer to retire.

Attorney Edward J. Dowd, representing the city, McManus and Thomas, told the jury that McManus had several good reasons for removing Temple from his six-person command team, hiring two black males and promoting a third black male from sergeant. Two white males and a white female filled out the new team of five majors and an assistant chief.

Among the reasons Temple "didn't fit in," Dowd said, was she once wore civilian clothes after McManus ordered everyone into uniform, that she failed to follow up on a citizen complaint a week after he referred it to her and that she shook her head in disagreement during a staff meeting about McManus' new "chase" policy. Dowd characterized it as "insubordination."

Judge G. Jack Davis of Montgomery County Common Pleas Court previously ruled the city had presented legitimate reasons for dismissing Temple.

The jury, however, was instructed to determine if the "legitimate reasons" were pretextual as cover for illegal motivations or simply true.

Attorney Dwight Brannon, representing Temple, told the jury that the true reason Temple lost her job was that McManus was creating diversity among his command staff.

"He terminated her to meet diversity goals," Brannon said.

He suggested in his closing remarks that jurors could infer McManus' true reason for firing Temple from several actions, including McManus' announcement of a racial profiling policy.

"He wants to announce to the community that race is a big part of his command," Brannon said, according to a recording of the trial.

Brannon said Thomas had the "ultimate authority" over McManus, but he "did nothing."

Six of the eight jurors signed each of the three interrogatory and three verdict forms. A seventh juror, inexplicably, signed only the verdict form finding against McManus.

After about two years in Dayton, McManus left his job to take a chief's job in Minneapolis. In April, McManus started a job as police chief in San Antonio.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2282 or rmodic@DaytonDailyNews.com.