By Johania Charles, Miami Times
A four-year court battle between Opa-locka – a city long marred by corruption allegations – and its former police chief, James Dobson, has finally ended with a $500,000 settlement.
The city’s former top cop, in a whistleblower lawsuit alleging wrongful termination, retaliation and political corruption, claims former Mayor Matthew Pigatt and former Commissioners John Riley and the late Alvin Burke, tried to sway police personnel decisions, interfered with investigations, violated the city charter and intimidated officers who enforced the law against friends and relatives.
Dobson, who was with the department for six years before moving up the ranks to become chief in 2016 before he was terminated in 2020, says he is relieved the ordeal is now behind him.
“I’m very happy to close that chapter and glad to be victorious and to be exonerated on all the false claims,” he said. “This case hurt me severely because … anytime someone would type ‘James Dobson’ in a Google search, they would see that I was terminated. I have applied for hundreds and hundreds of jobs. I would get turned down or I wouldn’t get an interview, (and was told) I’m overqualified or they found someone more qualified than me. This was in the corporate world, law enforcement jobs, security manager or director of security positions, whatever I applied for, I didn’t get.”
While officials have not explained the city’s reason for settling, Dobson says the $500,000 payout will restore his reputation and negate the city’s claims that he was fired for the department’s lack of progress and high crime rate at the time.
Attempts to reach current Opa-locka Mayor John Taylor, as well as its city manager, police chief Kenneth Ottley and Pigatt for interviews, have gone unanswered.
“The payment made is not to be construed as an admission of liability on the part of second part(y), and that the parties being released deny liability and intend merely to avoid litigation and buy their peace,” reads the indemnification agreement for the lawsuit.
“You don’t give half a million dollars if you didn’t do anything wrong,” said Dobson, who originally sought $4 million in damages. “I would have definitely wanted a lot more, but it wasn’t about the money. It was more about righting what was wrong and more so clearing my name and reputation. That was more important to me than the money.”
“We were ready to go to trial. We informed the court that we were ready to pick a jury,” said Michael Pizzi, Dobson’s attorney. “Even if we prevailed in trial, the city could have appealed and added an additional two or three years of dragging this thing out. It was in the best interest of Chief Dobson and his family to obtain the compensation and also be able to finally close this chapter.”
According to the lawsuit, political interference during Dobson’s tenure dated back to 2016. Dobson says he filed multiple written complaints between May 2016 through May 2020 with the city detailing how certain commission members sought to influence police department appointments, fix traffic tickets and falsify police reports.
Dobson said that at times, Riley would attend red-light camera meetings to defend violators. He also alleged that there was one incident where Riley asked officers responding to a call at an Opa-locka apartment complex to leave, advising them that the issue was a civil matter and one that did not require police presence.
After investigating the matter, the Miami-Dade County Commission on Ethics and Public Trust found that Riley had violated county ethics rules.
“He basically threatened me from that point forward,” Dobson said of Riley. “But it didn’t stop with him.”
“Chief Dobson made a number of requests for whistleblower protection,” said Pizzi. “But unfortunately, all those requests were ignored. And the city never took any steps to encourage employees to come forward.”
