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State Settles With Ex-Officer In Highway Patrol Bias Suit

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By Todd Ruger of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Published: December 20, 2007

SARASOTA COUNTY - The state will pay $525,000 to settle a lawsuit by a former Florida Highway Patrol major who said her firing was gender discrimination.

  Rebecca Tharpe

Rebecca Tharpe of Bradenton, who was the FHP's highest-ranking female officer, filed the lawsuit after the then-FHP director, Col. Christopher Knight, cited performance-related complaints in her termination.

Knight resigned in September when an agency investigation showed he falsified a memo regarding Tharpe's lawsuit.

The case was settled after mediation Nov. 12, according to federal court records. The lawsuit claimed Tharpe was fired because she was a woman and tried to advance the cause of female co-workers.

Tharpe oversaw Troop F, which consists of FHP operations in a 10-county area including Manatee, Sarasota and Charlotte counties.

She said she cannot talk about the settlement because it has not been finalized but that she intends to donate a portion of the money to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and to the Salvation Army, which fed her on assignment during natural disasters.

"I'm hopeful about the new direction of FHP as the public and the troopers who work there deserve it," Tharpe said. "Thank you to all who believed and supported me."

Knight wrote the memo in question in September 2006 as FHP officials sought documentation related to Tharpe's lawsuit. Knight dated the memo Dec. 2, 2003, and documented a conversation he had with then-Capt. James Darby Jr. in November 2003.

Darby told investigators he did not agree with Knight's recollection that Darby said Tharpe, his supervisor, was "difficult to work for." The conversation with Darby occurred in late December -- weeks after the date on the memo, the investigation found.

Knight fired Tharpe in June 2006 and wrote a critique of her performance, saying she failed to take responsibility for the actions of Trooper Tiffany Ferrell, who had six accidents in her state-owned vehicle within one year.

Knight said then that Tharpe's firing "should have been done long ago" and blamed her for "weak leadership and insubordination," adding that she wanted "promotions or positions that she believes are her inherent right because of her gender."

A memo that Knight released in June supporting Tharpe's termination says there is "little doubt" Tharpe will file a lawsuit or gender discrimination claim.

The document criticizes Tharpe for recruiting female troopers to join her in some form of lawsuit or equal employment opportunity claim against the agency.

Tharpe also sued the highway patrol in 2003, claiming sexual discrimination. That suit was settled in August 2005.

The Florida Department of Financial Services and the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles agreed the settlement was in the best interest of the state, according to a state memo.

Reporter Michael Scarcella contributed to this story.

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