Retaliation and Resignation: Former Officer Alleges Racial Bias After Exposing Missing Evidence

Lt. Sonya Zollicoffer, a former Internal Affairs officer with two decades of service in Prince George’s County, Maryland, contends she was forced into retirement after exposing missing video evidence in an excessive-force investigation. Her lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Maryland, alleges retaliation and racial discrimination, setting the stage for a legal battle that questions the integrity of the county’s law enforcement accountability systems.

The case centers on an incident from 2017, where Zollicoffer, then investigating claims of police brutality against a Black motorist, found that key footage from a traffic stop was missing. Zollicoffer claims her pursuit of the missing seven minutes of dashcam footage led to retaliation by supervisors, who reassigned her and eventually accused her of misconduct. “There was a tape missing from a traffic stop, which I was investigating,” she explained, underscoring what she believes was a critical gap in evidence for a case of police misconduct.

This is not the first racial discrimination complaint connected to the county’s police force. Zollicoffer’s lawsuit recalls a 2018 federal case in which Black and Hispanic officers claimed harsher disciplinary actions and inequitable treatment within the department. By 2020, Zollicoffer had formally filed complaints with Internal Affairs and the EEOC, reporting discriminatory practices against African-American officers in Prince George’s County.

The lawsuit further implicates attorney Shaun Owens, who represented both Zollicoffer and the two officers under investigation, an arrangement she described as a “clear and direct conflict of interest.” Despite her protests to the police union, the Fraternal Order of Police, Zollicoffer’s case proceeded with Owens as her counsel. Her subsequent demotion, from lieutenant to corporal, and the sharp reduction in pay, she claims, left her with little option but to leave the force altogether.

For Zollicoffer, her trajectory from a decorated officer to a whistleblower forced out of her position reflects broader concerns of racial bias and accountability in police departments. Her story, echoed in other discrimination lawsuits, amplifies calls for scrutiny and transparency in handling misconduct within law enforcement—a pressing issue now heightened by her civil rights lawsuit.