Ex-officer sues for $12M, claiming W. Richland chief ‘humiliated’ and ‘bullied’ her

A former sergeant is suing West Richland for more than $12 million over allegations the city’s former police chief humiliated, belittled and punished her for criticizing him.

Veteran officer Athena Clark filed a civil suit in U.S. District Court saying she lost wages and suffered emotionally when she was forced to demote herself and eventually was wrongly fired.

She claims former Police Chief Thomas Grego mistreated her and scrutinized her more than any of her peers on the small force of 19 officers. The suit says it was part of a pattern of retaliation after she criticized some of his decisions.

She also names Human Resources Manager Selena Smathers and Mayor Brent Gerry for failing to take action to stop Grego and even conspiring to get rid of her, according to the complaint.

The suit alleges their actions violated her First and Fourteenth amendment rights, defamed her, showed her in a false light, discriminated against her and broke laws meant to protect whistleblowers.

City officials have previously said Grego did nothing wrong. They point to a climate survey and another internal investigation that essentially cleared him of wrongdoing.

City officials told the Tri-City Herald they would not comment on the new lawsuit because it’s pending litigation.

Police chief ‘no confidence’

In 2024, Clark was a central figure in multiple “no confidence” votes by the West Richland Police Officers Association.

Officers claimed Grego showed a pattern of “mental and emotional instability” and he routinely targeted employees who were critical of him.

The votes had no legal repercussions, but are uncommon for police departments. In the Tri-Cities, it’s happened two other times in the past decade, including when Benton County deputies raised concerns about former Sheriff Jerry Hatcher, who was later recalled from office by voters. And, in Prosser, officers accused Chief Jay King of not doing his job. King was later fired.

In West Richland, Clark was once a top leader in the department, but then was fired in January 2025 after a 25-year career in law enforcement.

A month later, Grego announced his retirement and he left in June.

Promoted to police commander

Clark worked at the Oregon State Patrol and Richland police before joining West Richland in 2019. She had experience as a patrol officer, a detective, a school resource officer, a defensive tactics trainer and a firearm instructor.

She was promoted to sergeant in 2021. Her promotion to commander came after Grego took over for Chief Ben Majetich in 2022.

Grego, who had been with the department about 20 years, restructured the command staff, creating two commander positions and eliminating a lieutenant’s spot. The lawsuit alleges the chief made the decision so he could demote the current lieutenant he didn’t like.

Clark took a spot as a commander on the same day as Grego’s appointment. She supervised the detectives, animal control, office staff, media relations, internal investigations and community events.

She claims the problems started nearly immediately after Grego began assigning projects with unreasonable timelines without any training or direction.

“When (Clark) voiced these concerns to Grego, he became defensive, angry and demeaning,” the complaint said. “Grego yelled at (Clark) and said he had done if for five years by himself, and she needed to figure it out.”

Things became worse when she complained to the human resources manager about the difficulties of working with Grego and his “bullying” behavior, the suit said.

She talked with Grego about her concerns, but he later told her that he felt “betrayed.” He allegedly ordered her not to talk to human resources because, “We are to handle our issues in house,” the complaint said.

In October 2022, Clark admitted in a news story about the department’s new emotional support dog that she suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.

“(Clark) explained that she worked through the traumatic issues and could still live a happy and healthy life as a law enforcement officer,” the suit said.

She said the PTSD information was included in her background interview and on her application for the West Richland job.

But, she said, Grego reacted to the story by yelling and screaming and said, if he had known Clark had PTSD, “he never would have hired her.”

He demanded she call the media to retract the story. Clark said she told Grego she didn’t appreciate how he was treating her and that it was illegal for him to discriminate against her because of her condition.

Drinking allegations

She said problems escalated in 2023 at two Washington Sheriffs and Police Chiefs conference meetings. Grego told command staff that he wanted them to “cut loose” and drink together, the complaint said.

When Clark explained that she didn’t drink alcohol, Grego began bullying her, insulting her in front of other regional commanders, said the suit. She finally felt pressured into having a drink with him.

At the spring conference in May 2023, “He then proceeded to make sarcastic comments about (her) choice not to drink,” the lawsuit said. “(Clark) did not participate.”

Grego and others were allegedly kicked out of three bars because of their drunkenness, according to the complaint. She said Grego allegedly told her that he probably drank too much.

“When (Clark) mentioned hearing Grego got rowdy enough to get kicked out of bars, he got extremely defensive and then backpedaled saying he was not drunk, just loud,” said the suit.

Conspiracy and demotion

Prior to the conferences, Clark received high marks on her performance review, but days later after the spring conference, the suit claims Grego and Smathers conspired through personal email accounts on how to demote Clark.

They talked about continuing her probationary period and then pressuring her into demoting herself.

“Both Grego and Smathers acknowledged that (Clark) had not done anything wrong (except criticize Grego’s inappropriate behaviors at WASPC) and colluded to fabricate ‘reasons’ for a performance improvement plan,” the complaint said.

While she disagreed with the assessment, Clark did step down and became a sergeant again. Grego announced the demotion during a staff meeting where he forced her to take off her badge and handed it to her replacement.

Still, Clark claimed the pressure didn’t stop. Grego accused Clark of not investigating a fireworks-related fire though she wasn’t the sergeant working at the time and other officers were at the scene. An investigation found that it was an accident and a no crime occurred.

Union involvement

Clark took her concerns about Grego to Smathers and Mayor Gerry in October 2023. She explained that officers were worried about retaliation. Smathers reportedly found that Clark’s complaints were unfounded.

The police union passed a vote of “no confidence” in Grego in November 2023, and union President Jared Paulsen met with Gerry and Smathers to talk about union concerns.

The city hired Janice Corbin with Sound Employment Solutions to conduct a climate survey. While the union believed “that this would be a neutral third-party investigation. In fact, Corbin was simply hired by the city to pacify the matter with the union without investigating Grego,” the complaint said.

When Corbin came back with the survey in February, she put the blame on “change fatigue” among the officers.

The union took its complaints public and to the city council, prompting the mayor to send email to council members that mischaracterized union’s complaints, said the suit. Gerry announced in April that no action would be taken about Grego.

Investigations and complaints

Smathers allegedly blamed Clark for the issues with Grego in an email with an attorney. She called Clark a “problem sergeant” and that they needed “to address her behavior,” the complaint said.

Grego also opened an investigation into time card fraud in late January 2024, accusing Clark of dishonesty, theft and falsifying a document.

The Benton County Sheriff’s Office initially agreed to handle the internal investigation, but the detective soon determined the investigation wasn’t fair or impartial because Grego was trying to control it.

The detective withdrew, and the city hired a civil attorney to handle the investigation. It’s not clear what the results of that investigation were.

In April, Clark was disciplined for not turning in a quarterly report. The suit said she did not file the form because she was out on approved medical leave after an injury. In May, she was elected union president.

In September 2024, Grego accused Clark of intentionally ramming a suspect’s vehicle during a chase, then lying in the report and violating department policy. He put her on leave and took her badge and gun. An internal investigation later found no evidence that she had “rammed” the car.

Her attorney said that Grego tried to have her criminally prosecuted, but didn’t list what the chief accused her of. In October 2024, an investigation by Walla Walla police concluded, but no charges were filed, said the suit.

Then, in January 2025, Grego fired Clark, claiming her dispatch entries didn’t match her time cards.

Grego retired in June and was replaced by former Moscow, Idaho police chief James Fry.