San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a $400,000 settlement with a former investigator who claimed George Gascón retaliated against him for his role in blowing the whistle on Gascón’s alleged habit of carrying a firearm on commercial flights when he was the city’s district attorney.
Henry McKenzie sued the city in 2018, claiming that he was subjected to a “pattern of retaliation and harassment” after he and other investigators decided to go to the federal Transportation Security Administration with their concerns about Gascón allegedly bringing a gun onto flights, which they believed was a violation of federal law. McKenzie was fired in October 2017.
The lawsuit claimed the decision to blow the whistle was made by McKenzie and other members of the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office Investigators Association, the equivalent of a union for investigators in the D.A.’s office.
McKenzie’s complaint alleged that Gascón — who is also a former San Francisco police chief — took a gun onboard commercial flights repeatedly after becoming district attorney in January 2012.
Under federal law, peace officers who are armed while traveling are required to state that they are doing so for a work-related reason, under penalty of perjury. The investigators believed that, as district attorney, Gascón was no longer an active peace officer and had no need to travel with a gun.
McKenzie said in an email that he felt “vindicated” and hoped to also resolve pending administrative matters surrounding his case. McKenzie said Gascón’s decision to put him on what’s known as a Brady list — effectively a blacklist of people deemed unreliable by prosecutors — has been detrimental to his professional life. The case has caused “immeasurable stress” to his family, he said.
The city did not admit any fault as a term of the settlement agreement.
“The basis for this lawsuit was as dishonest as the conduct that led to Mr. McKenzie’s termination, namely the falsification of public documents,” said Max Szabo, a spokesman for Gascón.
Gascón “requested this case be taken to trial so a jury could decide the merits of this farce, but the city attorney made a business decision in response to the cost of litigation,” Szabo said.
McKenzie said: “I will not have my work ethic or integrity questioned. I did absolutely nothing wrong, illegal or unethical.”
John Coté, a spokesman for the city attorney’s office, said “settling this case at this stage for an amount far less than the cost of continued litigation is in the taxpayers’ interests. It should not be considered a reflection of the city’s likelihood of success on the merits.”
Dominic Fracassa is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: dfracassa@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @dominicfracassa
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June 03, 2020 at 02:43PM
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SF pays $400k to settle suit over claim former D.A. George Gascón carried guns on commercial flights - San Francisco Chronicle
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