Former LPD officer alleges sex discrimination in lawsuit filed against city

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – Former Lincoln Police Officer Laura Stokey filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the city alleging sex discrimination.

She also experienced a “hostile work environment” and retaliation at the Lincoln Police Department, according to the lawsuit.

Stokey worked at LPD from 2018 until she was fired on Jan. 11, 2022.

Kelly Brandon, Stokey’s attorney, said the discrimination began in 2019 after she turned down a relationship with another officer.

That officer continually harassed Stokey, according to the lawsuit.

Stokey was eventually transferred to the agency’s northwest precinct, where the other officer worked, Brandon said.

In May 2021, Stokey forgot to log a bullet as evidence and “mistakenly” left it in her uniform pants, the lawsuit says.

Five days later, Stokey’s supervisor — Sgt. Angela Sands — notified her of the error.

Stokey remembered where she put the bullet, tagged it and wrote a report about what happened, according to the lawsuit.  She was written up.

That October, Stokey was notified that an investigation into the incident would be extended due to “newly obtained evidence,” according to the lawsuit.

The officer who allegedly harassed Stokey “spread false information” about the incident, the lawsuit says.

The officer said Stokey washed the untagged bullet in her pants pocket and worked with Sands to cover it up.

Stokey was then placed on a 30-day unpaid suspension.

That same month, Stokey filed an internal Equal Employment Opportunity complaint, alleging “a hostile work environment, fear of retaliation, and discrimination,” the lawsuit says.

Stokey asked a supervisor if they could discuss the complaint but was never interviewed, Brandon said.

In December 2021, Stokey got a letter from LPD’s Internal Affairs Unit saying she would have a “suspension/termination” hearing.

She was fired on Jan. 11, 2022.

“LPD falsely claimed that Laura was terminated because Laura lied on her reports pertaining to the discovery and tagging of the bullet into property,” Brandon wrote.

In a departmentwide email, then-Police Chief Teresa Ewins said Stokey made “untruthful representations in a police report,” according to the lawsuit.

Sands was also fired.

Ewins said in an email that she was terminated for “significant and serious performance-related issues,” the lawsuit says.

On Jan. 18, 2022, Ewins told their former co-workers that Sands and Stokey “conspired to cover up the mishandling of evidence,” according to the lawsuit.

LPD submitted a report with the Nebraska Law Enforcement Training Center intending that barred Stokey from being a police officer.

But the center didn’t find probable cause for revoking Stokey’s law enforcement certification and lifted the ban.  She is currently working as a campus police officer at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

Stokey is seeking an unspecified amount of compensation for her “injuries and damages,” according to the lawsuit.  She requested a jury trial.

The City of Lincoln has declined to comment on the pending lawsuit.

Stokey joins several other former officers who have filed lawsuits against the city, including Sands, Sarah Williams, Erin Spilker and Sara Khalil.