A former Raleigh County sheriff's deputy is suing the county sheriff's department and other police officers and agencies, claiming he was fired because he is black and that his arrest three months after his firing was a setup.
Marquel Ali, 27, filed a lawsuit on Friday claiming the Sheriff's Department and former sheriff Steven Tanner treated employees who are not African-American more favorably, and treated light-skinned African-Americans more favorably than Ali.
The suit claims Tanner regularly and repeatedly called Ali "boy," and threatened to fire him throughout his employment. Tanner also called Ali a "thug" and a "stupid a** boy," the suit alleges.
Ali joined the sheriff's department in March 2014. During his year there, he "received write-ups and disciplinary actions while white officers who engaged in similar activity were not issued any form of reprimand or other discipline," according to the suit.
He was fired on March 17, 2015, a day after he was interrogated "regarding allegations by an individual arrested by [Ali]," the suit claims. The suit alleges Tanner again called Ali "boy" and said he didn't "fit in."
"He had no clue this was coming," said Hoyt Glazer, Ali's attorney. "They popped a lot of allegations on him at the time he was terminated. He had a performance review about a month before he was terminated. The performance review didn't indicate any of the serious allegations that they were alleging in support of his allegations, he received high marks."
Ali appealed his termination to the Raleigh County Civil Service Commission, which met June 2, 2015, and requested further evidence.
On June 23, 2015, Ali was arrested and charged with two counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and conspiracy to commit a felony.
Ali says he picked up his cousin that morning to give him a ride, and had noticed several unmarked police cars nearby. His cousin placed a grocery bag in the trunk of the vehicle, and they went to Burger King.
Ali's car was barricaded at the exit of the Burger King drive-thru. He claims police searched his car without a warrant and he was "forced, at gunpoint, onto the ground and handcuffed." Officers claimed to have found illegal drugs in the trunk of the vehicle and a small amount of marijuana in Ali's cousin's pocket, the suit states.
The lawsuit claims officers did not inform Ali of his charges; read his Miranda rights; show him the drugs found in the trunk; or weigh, field test or photograph the drugs at the time of the arrest.
"We've always maintained that [Ali] was innocent of these charges and these charges were nothing more than retaliation against him for seeking justice and opposing his termination," Glazer said Monday. "We believe they were trying to kill his rights when they initiated this criminal prosecution against him."
According to the suit, Ali's mother's home was searched and no drugs were found, although drugs were found at the home of Ali's cousin's mother. Ali says in his lawsuit that this evidence was withheld from him and his attorneys for nearly two years.
In February 2017, Ali's first trial ended in a mistrial after someone said they saw Ali's grandmother and mother talking to potential defense witnesses in the courthouse hallways.
His second trial began on May 22, and he was found not guilty on May 26.
"He stood firm and fought this injustice," Glazer said. "That's what this is all about -- fighting for what is right."
Besides Tanner and the Raleigh sheriff's department, Ali's lawsuit names as defendants Raleigh County; the City of Beckley; the Beckley Police Department; Gary Epling, a detective with the Raleigh sheriff's department; the West Virginia State Police; Kenneth L. Pack, a corporal with the State Police; and Jason Redden, an officer with the state Division of Corrections and the Raleigh sheriff's department. Representatives of the Raleigh sheriff's department and state agencies did not return requests for comment as of late Tuesday afternoon.
Reach Kayla Asbury at kayla.asbury@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-3051 or follow @kasbury_ on Twitter.