San Antonio PD lieutenant admits making sexual comment to female subordinate

San Antonio Express-News
Emily Eaton
April 27, 2023 at 12:44PM

According to a complaint the woman filed, Lt. Christopher Johnson spoke hypothetically about having sex with the sergeant while his own wife watched.

The incident prompted Police Chief William McManus to suspend Johnson without pay for 30 days. Johnson also was transferred from the Southwest Texas Fusion Center to the San Antonio Police Department's West Substation, where he remains as a supervisor.

Now, Johnson is appealing the suspension to an independent arbitrator, as permitted under the city's collective bargaining agreement with the San Antonio Police Officers' Association. He hopes to reverse McManus' decision, clear his record and collect back pay.

Johnson's defense: He acknowledges making a remark in Sgt. Analisa Diaz's presence about having sex — but he says he was talking about sex with his wife, not with Diaz. He also alleged that Diaz and Captain Michael Brown, his supervisor who oversaw the Fusion Center, manufactured the complaint against him because he had clashed with the captain over operational issues at the Fusion Center.

“We believe that Sgt. Diaz, acting in concert with Capt. Mike Brown, concocted this ... complaint for the sole purpose of retaliating against him,” Leonard said during an opening statement on Tuesday.

“However, should that hearing examiner find that there was sufficient evidence to sustain a complaint, we believe that a 30-day suspension is grossly excessive,” Leonard added. “We believe that it should be lowered to something else that is more reasonable.”

But city attorneys rejected those claims, saying they were a deflection from the real issue: that Johnson had violated the department's sexual harassment policy.

Testimony and legal arguments, which unfolded over the course of three days of hearings this week, depicted the Southwest Texas Fusion Center, where Johnson was a supervisor, as a workplace riven by rivalries and marked by rowdy, sometimes coarse conversation.

The hearings also opened a window onto the slow, contentious process by which the police chief's disciplinary decisions are contested, dissected and sometimes overturned or diluted.

The arbitrator, Bill Detwiler, heard testimony from the Internal Affairs investigator assigned to the case; Assistant Chief Karen Falks, who helped oversee the fusion center; Diaz's ex-husband; and McManus, among others. The hearings were held at One International Center downtown, where the City Attorney's Office is located.

Detwiler is expected to make his ruling in a couple months.

'The Handmaid's Tale'

The case involving Johnson began in October 2021, when Diaz filed a sexual harassment complaint against him. Diaz was assigned to the mental health unit at the fusion center, an intelligence-gathering hub based at the city's Public Safety Headquarters.

Diaz testified Tuesday that she was talking to Sgt. Matthew Porter and Officer Michael Marotta in her office about popular TV shows when Johnson — her supervisor — entered the room.

Diaz asked if anyone had watched "The Handmaid's Tale," a television series based on the Margaret Atwood novel of the same name. The work depicts a dystopian future in which many women are infertile and certain women, called handmaids, are forced to bear children for others. Some hadn’t watched the series, so Diaz began to explain its premise.

Diaz said that at that point, Johnson interjected with a remark about Diaz and his wife, Jennifer.

“So imagine Jen is sitting on the bed, and the back of Analisa’s head is in her legs, and I’m (expletive) Analisa,” Johnson allegedly said, according to SAPD disciplinary records.

At that point, Diaz testified, she stood up and exclaimed, “That is absolutely not like Lt. Johnson described."

Sgt. Jonathan Angell, the Internal Affairs investigator assigned to the case, testified Tuesday that he spoke to Marotta, who recalled Johnson making a comment similar in nature to the one described by Diaz.

"Officer Morrata indicated that he felt it was inappropriate,” Angell said.

The case against Johnson went before the department's Advisory Action Board, a panel of seven sworn officers and seven civilians that reviews allegations of officer misconduct and makes recommendations to the chief. The board's sworn officers recommended a five day suspension; the board's unsworn members recommended a 10-day suspension.

Two of the sworn members also suggested that Johnson be demoted to sergeant.

McManus didn't demote Johnson — but he did go beyond the board's recommendation, as he is allowed to do, and issued a 30-day suspension.

He cited Johnson for engaging in inappropriate behavior, being discourteous to a fellow employee and lacking good moral character, violations of civil service commission rules. He also found that Johnson violated the department's sexual harassment policy.

'We all had had discussions'

But Johnson’s attorney, Bob Leonard, argued that the lieutenant's comments were not as explicit or as crude as Diaz alleged.

Leonard said Johnson did make a comment about "The Handmaid's Tale" but he was referring to having sex with his wife, not with Diaz.

Sgt. Matthew Porter, called to testify on Johnson's behalf, confirmed that the group did discuss "The Handmaid's Tale." However, he denied that Johnson made a comment about hypothetically having sex with Diaz.

He also said he didn't recall Diaz growing upset by the comment.

“The temperature of the room didn’t change," Porter testified. "It wasn’t something I gave a whole lot of thought to.”

Johnson testified Thursday that he regretted the comment. However, he maintained that he did not believe the comment was inappropriate.

“The audience that was there, we had all had discussions in the past," Johnson said, describing how the group would make explicit jokes among themselves. "That was not something that I believe would have embarrassed anyone. Otherwise, I would not have had that conversation in the first place.”

Johnson said he had high career aspirations, and that the sexual harassment complaint against him was "a career ender."

“A 918 in anyone’s file is definitely bad," Johnson said, referring to name department officials use to describe a sexual harassment complaint. "A 918 in a supervisor’s file could be a career ender.”

'Quite shocked'

Assistant Chief Karen Falks, also called to testify on Johnson's behalf, said she ordered an assessment of operations at the Fusion Center shortly after she was promoted to deputy chief in 2020. As deputy chief, one of her responsibilities was overseeing the Fusion Center.

Falks said Johnson, at her request, identified a host of issues within the center. Among them: Officers in the Mental Health Unit were taking city vehicles home, even though they weren't supposed to, and officers were receiving premium pay for working hours outside their normal shift, even though they weren't working those hours.

“I actually was quite shocked and I was surprised at the laundry list of things that were occurring at the Fusion Center," Falks said. " There must have been 10 to 12 items on that list that were in my mind unconscionable."

Leonard contended that Brown, Johnson's supervisor, and Diaz manufactured the complaint against Johnson for personal reasons: because Brown and Johnson had clashed over those issues at the Fusion Center, prompting Brown to request a transfer out.

City strikes back

But city attorneys argued that Johnson never reported the alleged collusion between Brown and Diaz to the department's Internal Affairs Unit, as he would have been required to do as a supervisor. Nor did he bring it up with McManus before the chief imposed discipline.

In fact, city attorneys argued, Johnson brought up the alleged collusion for the first time during this week's arbitration.

"So when you became aware of this alleged collusion between Sgt. Diaz and Capt. Brown, you still didn’t make an IA complaint, correct?” Assistant City Attorney Rosa Phifer asked Johnson.

"I did not," Johnson testified.

City attorneys also stated that Johnson's defense — including that other officers in the Fusion Center used crude language — deflected from the real issue: that Johnson made a comment in violation of the department's sexual harassment policy.

They maintained that a 30-day suspension is appropriate, especially given the fact that Johnson was the highest-ranking officer in the room.

McManus, testifying on Wednesday, defended his decision to issue a 30-day suspension. He said he didn't recall another instance when he had to discipline a supervisor for sexual harassment.

He said supervisors should set the tone for appropriate language in the workplace. He said he never considered compromising with Johnson by offering a lighter penalty, given Johnson's rank and the personal nature of the alleged comment.

"I was not going to come off of 30 days," McManus said. "There wasn't any conversation about a settlement."

eeaton@express-news.net