A former Long Beach police officer who claimed he was fired from the department because he was gay dropped his lawsuit against the city Friday, in the midst of a civil court trial.
According to the Long Beach City Attorney’s Office, Brent Record was about to take the stand in the trial of his lawsuit — which alleged discrimination, harassment and retaliation — when he opted to drop the case.
Attorneys for Record could not be reached for immediate comment.
At the onset of trial, Record’s attorney David Tibor claimed his client had an exemplary record for seven years, but things changed when Sgts. Gerardo Prieto and Scott Jenson began overseeing him and “were looking to get him terminated.”
Tibor said Prieto and Jenson knew Record was gay and that he was once given an assignment on the basis of his sexuality after being told by one of the sergeants that it was “right up your alley.”
Deputy City Attorney Haleh Jenkins countered, however, that Record was fired due to poor job performance.
She said several rank-and-file and supervisory members of the LBPD are also homosexual and that the city has a large population of gay residents, including the mayor, Robert Garcia.
Jenkins said Record actually lost his job because he was afraid to handle the most serious of calls and did his best to avoid them. She said his actions “put the citizens of Long Beach in danger,” and that he resisted attempts by the department management to correct his behavior.
In its statement announcing the dismissal of the lawsuit, the City Attorney’s Office noted that “although a number of witnesses were called by Record’s attorney during the trial, Record offered no evidence that either Jensen or Prieto had any discriminatory animus against gay officers or were out to get Record.”
— City News Service