A judge has ordered Los Angeles police to turn over to attorneys for a fired commander documents they say are important pieces in her lawsuit alleging she was wrongfully fired after being found passed out in a police vehicle in 2018 in Glendale while in the company of a subordinate.
Cmdr. Nicole Mehringer alleges in her Los Angeles Superior Court that the LAPD’s justification for taking her job away was a pretext. She contends that she was actually dismissed for filing a motion that she believes could prove that female LAPD members are treated unfairly when compared to men when it comes to misconduct involving alcohol.
Mehringer’s attorneys filed a motion asking Judge Theresa M. Traber to examine the 2018 transcripts of the plaintiff’s December 2018 Board of Rights hearing to determine whether retaliation was indeed the actual motivation to fire Mehringer. On Friday, Traber directed the LAPD to turn over two of the transcripts, comprised of 40 pages in total, after reviewing them in chambers.
“Having now reviewed those transcripts, the court finds they are relevant to this lawsuit,” the judge wrote.
The City Attorney’s Office maintained in its court papers that the hearing transcripts had no “materiality” to Mehringer’s case.
The Board of Rights hearing concluded with Mehringer being found guilty of being drunk in a public place, allowing an intoxicated subordinate to operate the plaintiff’s city-owned vehicle, as well as failing to cooperate with police during her arrest and booking, the suit states.
Mehringer pleaded guilty to failing to disclose to the department that she was involved in a romantic relationship with a subordinate, the suit further states.
The thrust of Mehringer’s lawsuit is that she was punished for filing a motion to determine whether the Board of Rights treated male officers different from their female colleagues for alcohol-related wrongdoing. Mehringer’s original suit was brought in February 2019 and an amended version was filed in January 2022.