Chief at center of lawsuit alleging racial bias within Savannah Fire Department

Savannah Fire Department (SFD) Chief Elzie Kitchen as an individual and the City of Savannah as a municipality are the primary targets of a July 10, 2024 lawsuit brought by SFD Captain and former Battalion Chief, Jeffrey Croslen, in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia. The lawsuit is the latest effort by Croslen to bring to light what he describes as “a long and entrenched history of (SFD) passing over qualified African-American officers for top-level leadership positions.”

Capt. Croslen, who is Black, alleges that Chief Kitchen, who is also Black, has used a “racial quota” to fill leadership positions directly under him since becoming the full-time Chief in November 2022. In the suit, Croslen says Kitchen wants one of the two Assistant Chief positions filled by a White person and the other by a Black person. It was Kitchen’s plan, according to the suit, “to pit Blacks against Blacks, and Whites against Whites, without an opportunity for a candidate to compete for an opportunity outside the opening reserved for their race.”

“Kitchen … had decided to treat one Assistant Chief opening as a ‘Black slot’ and the other as a ‘White slot,’” reads a portion. The 17-page document (see below) was filed by HKM Employment Attorneys, a nationwide firm representing Croslen, according to court filings. It spells out what Mr. Croslen is expecting from the court action.
[pdf-2] “To address the discriminatory and retaliatory practices of the Defendants, Croslen seeks economic damages of back pay, front pay, and lost benefits,” reads the suit. “Additionally, Croslen seeks compensatory damages for emotional distress and mental anguish, as well as his attorneys’ fees and costs of litigation. Croslen further petitions the court for injunctive and declaratory relief as appropriate, including his reinstatement to the position of Battalion Chief from which he was illegally ousted.”

Artur Davis, Sheri Bagheri and Jerilyn Gardner are the HKM attorneys listed on the original lawsuit, with Bagheri listed online as “attorney to be noticed.”

Croslen began his employment with SFD on July 9, 1983, and was promoted to the rank of Fire Captain 12 years later, on Feb. 24, 1995. According to the three-count lawsuit, he did not receive another promotion—despite repeated efforts applying for the role of Battalion Chief in 2006, 2007, 2011 and 2013—until early 2020, when then SFD Chief Derik Minard promoted him to the rank of Battalion Chief. Croslen’s experiences within the department were well documented by then.
[pdf-1] Between March 2007 and October 2013, he made five different complaints citing SFD racism and retaliation to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Croslen has filed at least six such complaints to date, including his most recent on March 13, 2024. The EEOC has issued Croslen right-to-sue letters in at least four of his six complaints, including the March charge. The Fire Chief for most of Croslen's EEOC complaints was Charles G. Middleton, the target of a 2014 lawsuit filed by Croslen against the Chief and City of Savannah Aldermen. In it, Croslen alleges “race discrimination against (Defendant) Middleton, based on his failure to promote Plaintiff (Croslen) to Training Captain, Battalion Chief, or Assistant Fire Chief.”

Judge William T. Moore presided over the 2014 lawsuit in U.S. Southern District Court. He summarized Croslen's five EEOC complaints and noted that he was issued right-to-sue letters following the first (filed March 2, 2007), the third (June 3, 2010) and fifth complaint (Oct. 24, 2013).

The June 2010 complaint resulted in the EEOC determining there was "reasonable cause to conclude [Croslen] was discriminated against because of his race and in retaliation for having engaged in a protected activity." It was forwarded to the Department of Justice (DOJ) by the EEOC, but a DOJ investigation into Croslen's complaint resulted in its declining to bring a civil complaint against Middleton. Still, Croslen was issued a right-to-sue letter by the DOJ on March 31, 2014. Following an EEOC investigation into his fourth charge, a conclusion was made on April 17, 2013 that there was "reasonable cause to believe" Croslen was denied a promotion to Battalion Chief "in retaliation for his earlier EEOC charges, but not because of his race."

The September 2016 order from Judge Moore also included a blunt passage on potential SFD rationale for not promoting Croslen.

"In general, Defendants maintained that [Croslen] was not selected for promotion because those selected were better candidates based on characteristics other than experience and education," the judge wrote. "Moreover, [Chief] Middleton and other high-ranking employees in the Fire Department just did not want [Croslen] in a leadership role because they simply did not trust him. This disdain by [Chief] Middleton and others appears to be based on [Croslen's] relentless campaign accusing them of engaging in wrongdoing."

While the December 2007 EEOC complaint (his second since March 2007) was still pending, Judge Moore wrote that Croslen was arrested by the Savannah Chatham Metropolitan Police Department (SCMPD) on charges of "child cruelty and battery based on an altercation between [Croslen] and his son. As a result, Defendants suspended [Croslen] with pay on November 18, 2008, and terminated his employment in December 2008."

Croslen, however, was reinstated following a successful July 2009 appeal to the City of Savannah Civil Service Board, one in which Croslen argued that his termination was "simply retaliation" for his prior EEOC complaints. In the March 2024 EEOC complaint, Croslen says that his 2014 lawsuit “remained in federal court for an extended period of time due to a number of procedural disputes and the illness of my original attorney, who eventually died in early 2021. I was promoted to the position of Battalion Chief in 2020. In early 2023, I unsuccessfully applied for the position of Assistant Fire Chief. A white candidate was hired instead.”

Kitchen chose to promote Jack McCutchen (White) and Steven Frazier (Black) to the Assistant Chief positions on Feb. 26, 2023. On Aug. 4, 2023, Croslen says Kitchen requested his resignation after a contentious forum was held within SFD on Aug. 1, 2023; that forum included Croslen, Kitchen and the 11 Battalion Chiefs under him at the time.

"Kitchen convened the forum," the current lawsuit says, "to discuss programmatic issues within the organization. During the forum, Croslen expressed that SFD had a tendency to stifle dissent. Kitchen became visibly agitated and loudly admonished Croslen that 'a personal attack on my leadership' would not be tolerated." According to the suit, when Croslen rejected Chief Kitchen's request for him to resign, Kitchen told him he was terminated due to “insubordination.”

“For the next several months [after being terminated by Kitchen], I pursued an appeal through the City’s administrative process and was placed on paid administrative leave while my appeal was considered,” recalled Croslen in his March 2024 EEOC complaint. Savannah City Manager Joseph “Jay” Melder—who had appointed Kitchen as Interim SFD Chief on July 2, 2022 and full-time Chief on Nov. 8, 2022—did not conduct a meeting to hear Croslen’s August termination appeal until Oct. 6, 2023.

“Melder is the final decision-maker regarding challenged municipal terminations,” says the current lawsuit. “After the October 6 meeting, Croslen’s dormant federal case started to become active again."

"I made the decision in late November,” Croslen explained in his March EEOC complaint. “I did not want to pursue my case given my current situation with the city and my focus on getting my job back. The Court issued a formal order dismissing my case on Nov. 28 (2023).”

His attorneys say that on Nov. 29—one day following the dismissal of his 2014 suit—an Assistant Human Resources Director from the City of Savannah contacted Croslen to tell him he could either resign or take a demotion from Battalion Chief back to Captain. The current lawsuit argues this demotion “would result in a pay cut of $11,215.22” per year. After he refused to resign, Croslen was officially demoted on Dec. 3, 2023. Davis says his client was one of two Blacks promoted to the role of Battalion Chief out of 12 officers in the position in 2020. Both were appointed by former SFD Chief Minard.
[pdf-3] “We think it's a very straightforward case of a department that is using race to make promotional decisions. And we think Savannah has a long history in its fire department of race limiting the prospects for African American candidates,” attorney Davis told Connect Savannah on July 19. “Yes, Savannah has had a black fire chief for apparently all but two of the last 15 years. But once you get below the level of the person who's on the 6 o’clock news and who's standing at press conferences, once you get to that level of the leadership of the department, it has been an overwhelmingly White male group of folks who run the department who make the decisions, while, in effect, a Black chief acts as the face of the organization.”

There are three counts, or “causes of action,” in the Croslen case—two against the City of Savannah and one against Chief Kitchen, according to City of Savannah employee disclosures. The first count comes against the City of Savannah and claims illegal retaliation by the City in the form of demotion only after Croslen “opposed racially discriminatory promotion practices within the Savannah Fire Department.”

Count II is against Elzie Kitchen in his individual capacity. It states: “Kitchen retaliated against Croslen by subjecting him to conduct including but not limited to coerced participation in Savannah’s EAP (employee assistance program), a prolonged administrative suspension, and an attempt to terminate his employment. The cumulative retaliatory conduct by Chief Kitchen well might have dissuaded a reasonable person from engaging in protected activity, creating a retaliatory hostile environment.”

Count III is aimed at the City of Savannah’s “discriminatory failure to promote” and alleges plainly that “Chief Kitchen engaged in racially discriminatory conduct by treating race as a determinative factor in the evaluation of candidates for the role of Assistant Fire Chief that (Croslen) sought in 2022-23.”

Davis, who said only Kitchen could be subject to punitive damages in the lawsuit, argues Croslen’s loyalty and “respect for the uniform” has been a primary motivator for his client’s insistence that practices within the SFD need to be addressed. He said Croslen is hoping to retire as an SFD employee, and he wants to do so with the knowledge that things like what he experienced are not going “to continue as the status quo.”

“We certainly believe that over a period of time that this department has had this entrenched glass ceiling for blacks and that there has been a pattern of having a Black visible spokesperson for the department as fire chief, while the operational work of the department is entirely done by White men—virtually entirely done by white men. There's something wrong with that picture,” Davis said. “Even if we fall short of a jury trial, even a ruling by a judge in this case that these claims have merit would be a big deal because most government entities don’t fully understand employment law. They cling to a lot of myths.”
[pdf-4] No hearing dates had been set in the case, as of July 30. Court documents do show, however, summons papers were delivered for Chief Kitchen on July 15 to City Hall (2 E. Bay Street). They were received by Jay Santigo, who identified himself as the "corporate officer" and "accepted service with direct delivery," according to the July 25 filing (see above).

Connect Savannah sent a request for comment on this story to the City of Savannah and received a response commonly used by the city in relation to lawsuits of this kind.

"The City of Savannah does not comment on active or pending litigation."