Los Angeles police captain was awarded $10.1 million by jurors in her discrimination/retaliation suit against the city in a verdict that comes a year after another jury granted her husband (also a sworn LAPD member) more than $4 million in his separate suit against the department.
The Los Angeles Superior Court panel found in favor of former Capt. Stacey Vince, who was a lieutenant in the detective bureau when a new deputy chief, Kris Pitcher, became her direct supervisor in 2019 and eventually began shunning her, her suit stated.
Vince’s husband, LAPD Lt. Lou Vince, also an LAPD employee, had previously worked under Pitcher at Operations Valley Bureau and suffered retaliation and discrimination on account of a physical disability, Lou Vince alleged in his lawsuit.
When Lou Vince complained, the LAPD command staff threatened him that his wife’s career would be adversely affected, his suit stated. Stacey Vince reported the retaliation against her husband, including the allegations against Pitcher, according to her suit.
One year earlier, in 2022, a different jury trial heard Lou Vince’s claims and awarded him $4.37 million for his retaliation and discrimination claims. In Lou’s case, Stacey Vince acted as a witness in an internal affairs proceeding which concerned her husband’s claims. She also complained about what she believed to be disparate treatment of her while she was assigned to the detective bureau.
“As a result of her protected activity, plaintiff was retaliated against in multiple ways, including… being administratively transferred out of the detective bureau against her will,” the suit alleged.
Stacey Vince, who was promoted to captain in November 2022, says she chose to retire rather than accept a transfer to a less prestigious position.