A Black officer with the Maryland-National Capital Park Police filed a lawsuit against the department this week, alleging that he endured a hostile work environment and retaliation due to racial harassment from his white supervisor.

In a lawsuit filed Monday in the U.S. District Court of Maryland, Park Police officer Mark Miles alleges that his white supervisor, Stephanie Harvey, and other white officers on the force frequently made offensive, demeaning, and threatening comments about Black and other non-white people. The lawsuit outlines, in detail, a series of text messages exchanged in a group chat with officers assigned to Montgomery County parks. In the text chain, Harvey and others allegedly “repeatedly made racist, hateful, and offensive comments on that text chain with impunity,” according to the suit.

Comments ranged from condoning extremist groups to threatening violence against Black Lives Matter protesters.  Miles’ allegations of mistreatment also extend beyond the group chat; he claims Harvey mocked unconscious bias trainings as “embarrassing,” and on more than one occasion said she thought racism was “made up,” among other racist and offensive interactions.

“Defendant Harvey knew or should have known that the conduct and comments of the officers she was supervising was illegal and harassing, but failed to take any steps to prevent and/or correct it,” reads the suit. “Indeed, Defendant Harvey admitted that she knew her conduct was illegal in at least one text message, wherein she stated: “Joke, don’t turn these texts over to [Internal Affairs] and get me fired for hate speech!”

The Maryland-National Capital Park Police is a subdivision of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (MNCPPC) a bi-county agency which oversees park planning in both Prince George’s and Montgomery counties. The officer, Mark Miles, joined the force in 2019, and in April 2020 was transferred to the shift where he reported directly to Harvey. Their unit primarily worked in Montgomery County. Harvey and the MNCPPC are named as defendants in the suit.

In August 2020, after witnessing the alleged harassment on several occasions in person and in the group text, Miles reported Harvey to Captain Jeffrey Coe. After this, Miles claims he was iced out of the squad — removed from the group chat, where beyond the alleged racist remarks, the officers communicated about work-related matters and schedules. In February of 2021, Miles reported the retaliation to Internal Affairs, after which point he claims at the department began pressuring him to transfer out of his unit. Ultimately, in November 2021, Miles had been transferred to a less desirable night shift.

In a statement Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Park Police said department management “promptly” starting an investigation after becoming aware of the text chains, and several officers were suspended and referred to the disciplinary process for termination.

“While we cannot disclose the details of individual personnel actions or pending disciplinary proceedings, the suggestion that Park Police management ignored allegations of misconduct by this group of officers is simply incorrect,” read the Park Police statement. “We will make the results of the trial board process public at the appropriate time.”

Per the suit, the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission and Harvey (both in an official and individual capacity) face multiple charges of race discrimination and retaliation. Miles is seeking economic and compensatory damages, and asking that Harvey be terminated.

The suit marks the latest in a series of legal actions taken locally by officers — current and former — against police forces. In 2018, a group of current and former Prince George’s County police officers sued the department for racial discrimination, and in 2021, D.C.’s police department faced two different suits, both alleging racial and gender discrimination.