Miami Gardens ex-Police Chief Antonio Brooklen dated two female officers within his department at the same time. And the same female officers were also dating each other. Meanwhile, Chief Brooklen was married with a wife and kids.
Brooklen became the police chief in November 2015 after the former chief was arrested for soliciting a prostitute on camera.
But Brooklen had already been suspended and demoted for seperate sexual harassment claims on his personnel record before he became chief. Now Brooklen is being sued, reports the Miami Herald.
Former Miami Gardens Police Officer Kalicia Battle is the woman suing Brooklen. The suit which was filed on January 4, 2018 claims that: “From the very first day Chief Brooklen laid eyes on 25-year-old Kalicia Battle, she became the object of his unsolicited affection.”
When Battle was applying to become an officer, Brooklen asked to meet her outside the office for an “official meeting” to discuss her application. Brooklen reportedly requested that they meet at the Miami Gardens strip club Tootsie’s Cabaret; it was there that Brooklen allegedly kissed her on the cheek without her consent.
Upon being hired by the Miami Gardens Police Department, Brooklen asked for another meeting to discuss her status as an officer-in-training. Battle says that Brooklen forced her into his city-issued vehicle and groped her “legs and chest, in the very lot of the police station he was tasked with commanding.”
On another occasion Brooklen called her and another rookie officer to his office for a meeting. After the first male officer left the meeting the chief allegedly called Battle into the room and put his hand down her pants.
“Ms. Battle was frozen in shock,” the suit reads. “Chief Brooklen then told her to sit down and asked if ‘she was excited.’ Not knowing what to say in such a situation with such a powerful authority figure, Ms. Battle forced herself to say that she was.”
Brooklen even sent text messages to Battle stating that he wanted to feel her.
Chief Brooklen text to Battle.
All of this was happening while the chief was dating another female officer identified as Kimberly McDonald. But, Battle a lesbian was also dating McDonald. The two ladies got into a physical altercation at McDonald’s house in April 2016. An on duty Battle went to McDonald’s house to see if Chief Brooklen was there.
McDonald refused to answer and refused to let Battle in, she then grabbed McDoanld’s arm and McDonald retaliated by scratching Battle’s face.
The chief forced Battle to resign after the altercation and he reportedly told two police departments that she applied to not to hire her.
In 2009 the chief received a 30-day unpaid suspension after an Internal Affairs investigation determined he was in an “intimate personal relationship” with a former employee, which violated departmental policy.
The 2009 investigation noted Brooklen’s conduct as, “clearly inappropriate and not within the guidelines of the department.” Earlier in 2009 Brooklen was demoted from major to captain because he was showing up late to crime scenes.
Yet with all the red flags on Brooklen’s record, in 2015 Miami Gardens Mayor Oliver Gilbert still appointed Brooklen as police chief. The mayor and Brooklen are fraternity brothers.
Battle issued a notice to sue Chief Brooklen and the Miami Gardens Police Department in September 2016. Within days of that notice Brooklen resigned as chief.
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