Evanston Police Chief Schenita Stewart
EVANSTON, ILLINOIS — Saying the city's story "reeks" of an attempt to cover up potentially unlawful racial discrimination, a federal judge says a white woman who was fired from her post as head of the records department at the black-led Evanston Police Department can continue her lawsuit against the city.
In the Sept. 28 ruling, U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall denied the attempt by the city of Evanston to dismiss the lawsuit lodged by Sarah Jones.
According to court documents, Jones had worked at the Evanston Police Department since 2005, eventually rising to the position of records supervisor.
In that department, she was the only white employee. All of the other four employees who worked under her supervision were women. Two were black and two were Latino, court documents said.
Officially, the city claims Jones was fired in March 2024 "after a thorough investigation found that she violated multiple rules and engaged in misconduct."
In her lawsuit, also filed later in 2024, Jones asserted the city's story was merely concocted to justify firing her because she complained about the refusal by department brass to address disciplinary and work issues involving one particular black female subordinate, identified in court documents as Tarshanda Shorty.
According to court documents, Shorty is "family friends and connected to" Evanston Police Chief Schenita Stewart. Stewart has served in that role since 2022, when she became Evanston's first permanent black and female police chief.
According to court documents, Jones had received nothing but positive reviews and feedback from her supervisors at the Evanston department throughout her employment.
However, that changed abruptly when Jones and Shorty came into conflict over Jones' attempt to inform supervisors of "ongoing misconduct by Shorty, including insubordination, poor performance, and hostile behavior..."
Jones further complained that department brass, including Deputy Chief Melissa Sacluti, also refused to take notice or action regarding Shorty's alleged workplace disciplinary and performance concerns.
According to published reports, Sacluti has also served as Evanston's first "LGBTQ liaison" since 2013.
After Jones lodged her complaint concerning the lack of action against Shorty and lack of support from department leadership, those leaders allegedly took swift action against Jones.
According to court documents, department brass allegedly directed Shorty to file a complaint against Jones, which was immediately followed by an investigation by department leadership into Jones instead.
That investigation allegedly revealed Jones had violated department rules and demonstrated improper favoritism toward other subordinates, including her department's other black employee, at Shorty's expense. That led the city to demote and suspend Jones, the very next day.
The city then also conducted what Judge Kendall described as "an extraordinarily intensive forensic search of Jones' phone, email, and computer dating back to 2018 on issues wholly irrelevant to their initial basis for investigating Jones."
After questioning Jones again, the city used the results of that search to declare it had uncovered evidence that justified Jones' termination.
In her complaint, however, Jones argued that investigation was merely trumped up to punish Jones for attempting to discipline Shorty, a connected black woman, amid a department-wide policy generally forbidding any disciplinary or corrective actions against any black employees.
In her ruling, Kendall sided almost entirely with Jones, agreeing that the city's account of the story of Jones' termination "reeks of pretext," intended to justify the city's decision to take potentially discriminatory action against a white worker for attempting to correct the misconduct of a black subordinate.
Kendall noted the timing and extent of the actions against Jones lend credence to Jones' claims.
Kendall noted the city all but admitted to a policy forbidding corrective action against black employees, ostensibly because the city had suffered a rash of recent discrimination lawsuits from black plaintiffs.
Kendall further blasted the city for disregarding both its own rules and Illinois law in the way it handled Jones' termination.
And the judge noted the difference in the way the city responded to dueling workplace complaints lodged by Jones, a white worker, and Shorty, a black worker, makes Jones' claim stand out.
"Jones raised Shorty’s misconduct, bad attitude, and incompetence with the City repeatedly over the course of months and went to great lengths to remedy the situation," Kendall wrote.
"When Jones finally felt that discipline was necessary and presented her complaint to the City—with evidence showing Shorty’s continued mistakes and refusal to learn from them—Sacluti did what she had been doing all along: nothing.
"Sacluti instead brushed off the concerns and took no action. Indeed, the City never looked into Shorty’s conduct—all of Jones’ complaints went unaddressed.
"Whereas, based on a few vague, uncorroborated, and contradictory statements Shorty made, the City instructed Shorty to file a complaint against Jones and used that complaint as the predicate for firing Jones."
Jones is represented in the case by attorney Steven D. Horak, of Buffalo Grove.
Evanston is represented by attorney Mark Alanson and others from the City of Evanston Law Department.
