Parts of former Tupelo police officer lawsuit allowed to continue

TUPELO, Miss. (WCBI) – A federal judge said parts of a lawsuit filed by a former Tupelo Police department officer can continue.

Jennifer Baker was fired in March 2017 after four years on the force. Baker claimed multiple reasons including sexual harassment and retaliation in her suit.

Judge Sharion Aycock said Baker can continue with the portion of the suit that said she was fired for exposing issues with the way the department paid overtime to officers. Her complaint resulted in the department having to pay tens of thousands in back pay to several officers.

Aycock also found merit to Baker’s complaint that she was fired because she spoke out against the department mandates that officers write a minimum number of tickets.

Her complaint also contained affidavits from other Tupelo officers saying they would be reassigned to lower-income areas of the city in order to find more violators they could ticket.

The judge did give summary judgment to the Tupelo Police on Baker’s claims of sexual and gender harassment as well as violations of her first amendment rights