UPDATE: Former Pocomoke Police Chief gets representation for wrongful termination case

The former Chief of Pocomoke Police, has apparently hired counsel for his wrongful termination case.

The Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, says they have teamed up with Wiley Rein LLP, to represent Kelvin Sewell, former police chief of Pocomoke City, after he was dismissed on June 29, by Mayor Bruce Morrison. After Sewell’s dismissal, the local community had many questions about the action, including whether or not racism was a part of the matter.

Sewell’s lawyer claimed at a July 13 community rally supporting the former chief, that “racial discrimination and unlawful retaliation for protected conduct under federal civil rights law,” and that there are “documented numerous instances of a hostile work environment for African-American police officers” in Pocomoke.

“This is one of the most egregious cases of primary racial discrimination and retaliation for assertion of rights before the EEOC that I’ve seen,” said Andrew McBride chair of Wiley Rein’s Communications Appellate & Litigation Practice, and co-counsel, in a July 18 interview with The Washington Post. “Chief Sewell has a fantastic record as a police officer. He was terminated because he stood up for two African American officers who filed an EEOC complaint.”

Also at that July 13 public meeting, Sewell’s lawyer said that Sewell was subject to “racial discrimination” and that his firm would be pursuing legal action on Sewll’s behalf against the city.

As of Wednesday, no lawsuit has officially been filed.