Former Police Officer Sues The City Officer Dismissed Two Years Ago After Calling A Mother ‘Unfit’

A former Spokane police officer who says he was unfairly fired two years ago is suing the city for $750,000.

Jonathan Sprague was dismissed in 1993 after calling the mother of a 9-year-old bully “unfit.” A few days before that incident, internal affairs officers said Sprague illegally entered a woman’s house in East Central while looking for a teenager wanted on a warrant.

Police Chief Terry Mangan said Sprague couldn’t have known for sure whether he even had the right address and should have called for backup.

Sprague’s attorney, however, said the officer’s actions were no worse than the time Mangan cursed at a youth who had flipped him off.

Sprague, 31, plans to file the lawsuit today in Superior Court. The city never responded to a claim filed earlier this year asking for less money.

“So we upped the damages,” said his attorney, Tim Durkop. “We have a good case.”

Not so, said city attorney Pat Dalton. Sprague didn’t appeal his termination through the Civil Service Commission, and the police Guild refused to take his case to arbitration.

“He can file all the claims he wants and it won’t do any good,” Dalton said. “He’s supposed to exhaust all appeal remedies before he goes to court.”

During his five years on the force, Sprague was disciplined a total of six times for improper conduct.

Months before he was fired, however, he scored higher than any other police officer on a test to be promoted to detective.

On the day he turned in his badge and gun, Sprague came out with the top score on another test, this one for a promotion to the rank of sergeant.

“He is very, very smart,” said Greg Staeheli, a former Guild attorney. “He maxed out every test put before his nose. The department treated him unfairly, in my opinion.”The incidents occurred a few days apart in early October 1993, and internal affairs officers began an investigation.

Four days before Christmas, Mangan handed Sprague two letters.

The first addressed the illegal entry complaint, and informed Sprague he was demoted, suspended for 10 days and stripped from any chance of promotion for one year. The letter warned him that future violations could result in termination.

The second letter said Sprague’s judgment in the unfit-mother comment was “a monument to arrogance and insensitivity.”

It also said he was fired.

“I was numb for a while,” Sprague said. “I couldn’t believe it. I went home and it was like, ‘Hi, honey, I got fired,’ and it’s my daughter’s birthday and Christmas in a week.”

Durkop said Mangan violated the city’s policy of progressive discipline by handing both letters to his client at once. He also said the arrest warrant entry was not illegal and therefore not grounds for discipline.

The lawsuit claims Sprague’s demeanor was no worse than the chief’s own behavior last summer when he cussed out a teenager who had flipped him off in the Valley.

Mangan suspended himself for two days.

“Never did (Sprague) cuss or lose his temper,” Durkop said. “He was polite, and he shouldn’t have been fired.”

Sprague said the Police Guild didn’t take his case because it would have cost too much. Attorneys for the guild did investigate Sprague’s termination, however, and decided he didn’t break any laws when he went inside the home with an arrest warrant.

The lawsuit isn’t so much for the money as it is for personal “closure,” said Sprague, a Rogers High School graduate.

“I was humiliated that year with all that went on,” he said. “The department is a real fraternal organization. When they fired me, it felt like my family divorced me. It’s been very painful.”

After he was kicked off the force, Sprague took a construction job and his wife started a housecleaning business to help pay the bills.

Sprague was making more than $42,000 a year as a police officer. He was hired last spring by the Valley Fire Department, where he makes about $32,400 a year as a firefighter.

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