Former LA Fire Chief Files Defamation Lawsuit Against City For 'Unlawful Retaliation'
Former LAFD Chief Kristin Crowley says that she was fired for "telling the truth" about department resources in the aftermath of deadly wildfires that tore through Los Angeles in January, and now she wants the city to pay for defaming her. In a lawsuit filed against the city Wednesday, L.A.'s first female and LGBTQ+ fire department leader said Mayor Karen Bass not only unfairly fired her, but has since undertaken a "smear campaign" to defame her. The war of words between Bass, who was traveling on a diplomatic mission to Ghana when the deadly wildfires exploded across Los Angeles County on January 7, and Crowley began after the former Chief spoke about her frustration that firefighters' efforts were hindered by tapped hydrants in the Pacific Palisades, understaffing and broken down rigs. "When Fire Chief Crowley confirmed to the public that Bass cut the LAFD's operating budget by $17.6 million, she was targeted and removed from her position. The Mayor and her office simultaneously launched a smear campaign built on falsehoods," according to Crowley's attorneys. "Integrity, truthfulness and serving others before self have guided me throughout the years," Crowley said in a statement Wednesday morning. "As the Fire Chief for nearly three years, I advocated for the proper funding, staffing and infrastructure upgrades to better support our Firefighters, and by extension, our communities."
Crowley said the mayor then began to lie about, exaggerate and misrepresent the Fire Department's budget and issues. "As Firefighters, we run towards uncertainty and are willing to risk it all. Doing the right thing even when it is hard is always the right decision and that is why I am continuing to fight for the resources our Firefighters need to keep us all safe." Crowley wants the Mayor to apologize and retract all of what the lawsuit calls defamatory statements about her response to the fires.
Crowley's attorneys say she was "demoted, sidelined, and denied opportunities to return to leadership roles for which she was qualified," by an angry Bass, who was heavily criticized for celebrating the swearing in of a leader in a country with a history of homophobia. Ghana's Parliament passed a 2024 Human Sexual Rights and Family Values Bill which criminalizes LGBTQ+ individuals and their supporters - an action that has received widespread international condemnation by human rights activists. "Former Fire Chief Crowley's tort claim presents her extensive advocacy efforts to obtain the funding and resources the LAFD needed to fulfill its public safety mission. It also shows Mayor Bass' repeated refusals to provide those resources," her attorney Genie Harrison said in a statement, adding that the former chief is putting herself "on the line" again to give Angelenos the truth about the sorry state of the Fire Department's resources. The lawsuit comes just hours after Bass announced that the city's after-action Report on the Palisades Fire - the cause of which remains a mystery more than seven months later - was paused after the U.S. Attorney's Office for California's Central District said the release could bungle what the mayor called an "ongoing investigation." The U.S. Attorney's office had no comment. The Mayor's office did not immediately return a request for comment on Crowley's lawsuit.
This story was originally reported by L.A. Mag on Aug 20, 2025, where it first appeared.
Solve the daily Crossword
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Associated Press
3 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Orlando officials denounce removal of rainbow crosswalk near Pulse nightclub mass shooting site
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Orlando officials on Thursday denounced the overnight removal by Florida transportation workers of a rainbow-colored crosswalk outside the Pulse nightclub where 49 people were gunned down, saying it was part of an attack on LGBTQ lives by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration. Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer called the painting over of the crosswalk with rainbow colors often associated with LGBTQ pride a 'callous' and 'cruel political act.' The massacre at the LGBTQ-friendly nightclub in 2016 was the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history at the time. 'This crosswalk not only enhanced safety and visibility for the large number of pedestrians visiting the memorial, it also served as a visual reminder of Orlando's commitment to honor the 49 lives taken,' Dyer said. State Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, a Democrat from Orlando, called the overnight removal work a cowardly act. 'They did this in the middle of the night because they were scared of the resistance because they know what they did was wrong,' said Smith, who is openly gay. The Florida Department of Transportation did not respond to an emailed inquiry seeking comment. The rainbow crosswalk originally was installed in 2017 by the state, Dyer said. The state transportation agency had been notifying cities around Florida in recent months that they must remove rainbow-colored crosswalks and intersections or they could face the withholding of transportation funds. Among the cities notified were Delray Beach and Key West. Will Watts, an assistant secretary for the Florida Department of Transportation, issued a memo in June prohibiting 'surface art' on crosswalks, sidewalks, intersections, travel lanes or shoulders. The memo prohibited 'surface art' associated with 'social, political or ideological messages or images and does not serve the purpose of traffic control.' The Pulse nightclub shooting during a Latin night celebration on June 12, 2016, killed 49 people and wounded 53 others. The attacker, Omar Mateen, who had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, was killed after a three-hour standoff with police. At the time, it was the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. But that number was surpassed the next year when 58 people were killed and more than 850 were injured among a crowd of 22,000 at a country music festival in Las Vegas. Smith, the lawmaker, promised that if the state gets its way, the LGBTQ community won't be erased at the site where a permanent memorial is planned. 'There will be a rainbow mural nearby that is even bigger, queerer and more colorful than they ever imagined,' Smith said. ___ Follow Mike Schneider on the social platform Bluesky: @
Miami Herald
2 hours ago
- Miami Herald
Rainbow intersections are erased overnight but Florida avoids real issues
Talk about misplaced priorities. Florida leaders need to quit spending their time (and our money) worrying about rainbow-painted intersections and focus on what matters to millions of people: bringing down the cost of property insurance, providing housing that people can actually afford and finding ways to reduce the cost of living. That should be obvious but, apparently, it isn't. The Florida Department of Transportation recently notified the city of Key West that it needs to remove its LGBTQ+ rainbow crosswalk by Sept. 3 or face draconian consequences: the potential for 'immediate withholding of state funds.' Delray Beach received a similar notice. Other cities are braced, including our own Miami Beach. In Orlando, the rainbow crosswalk outside the Pulse nightclub — where 49 mostly LGBTQ people were murdered in 2016 — was removed by the state overnight. The Orlando mayor said the city wasn't even notified in advance, according to the Orlando Sentinel. State workers laboring in the dark of night to remove a rainbow crosswalk, one designed to honor the dead — is that where we are in this state? People are struggling to afford living here, sure, but Florida officials are hard at work on their own idea of what's important: the Pride-painted intersection. The fact that many of these intersections are in predominantly gay neighborhoods makes this even worse. As Joe Magazine, a Miami Beach commissioner, told the Editorial Board, 'Many of the people I was elected to represent feel personally attacked by this.' He called the state's actions an example of government overreach. 'We pride ourselves on being a welcoming city to all. It's never bothered anybody,' he said. The conflict between the state and municipalities came after a July 2 post on social media by Florida Transportation Secretary Jared Perdue. He posted an FDOT memo that said the state was cracking down on 'non-standard surface markings' on roadways that could lead to 'distractions or misunderstandings.' Don't be fooled. This isn't about traffic safety. It's about politics. Wrapped up in those bureaucratic words is an effort to stamp out viewpoints that are unpopular with those in power. This is about the GOP, the so-called party of small government, big-footing local governments yet again. It's about government overreach, again. Worst of all, it's about marginalizing LGBTQ people. In his July 2 post on X, Purdue said Florida must 'keep our transportation facilities free & clear of political ideologies.' Just one day before that, the Trump administration's transportation secretary, Sean Duffy, posted on X that 'taxpayers expect their dollars to fund safe streets, not rainbow crosswalks.' Not hard to see what's happening here: the DeSantis administration in Florida is once again trying to find favor with Trump. Maybe we should give the state the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps FDOT has a slew of letters or comments complaining about safety problems related to rainbow-painted intersections. (If so, they should certainly share that information.) Or maybe there have been a ton of protests about rainbow intersections — except the only big protests lately have been about Alligator Alcatraz, the immigrant detention center in the Everglades, and we don't see the state jumping to address those concerns. But even if there have been complaints, the place to handle them is through local government. That's a call to your city council member, not an issue that requires the full force of the state. The state has vowed to remove the rainbow street markings by itself if the cities won't — and send the bill to local governments and taxpayers. Some cities, like Boynton Beach in Palm Beach County, have already given in under the state's financial threats, painting over rainbow intersections. Others may still wind up in FDOT's crosshairs: Fort Lauderdale has a stretch of road on a side street near the beach painted in Pride colors. Miami Beach installed its Pride-themed pavers in 2018, according to Axios. Florida is getting practiced at declaring exaggerated emergencies that play to the GOP crowds. Gov. Ron DeSantis tapped his emergency powers — stretching them from 1993 — to build that ill-considered Alligator Alcatraz earlier this year. Now, rainbow intersections are apparently the big threat. Erasing these intersections is about more than paint. It's about erasing communities. Those rainbows represent people who were long marginalized. Displaying a kaleidoscope of color on intersections and crosswalks is a way of saying, in a tangible way, that diverse communities are welcome. That's not something to fear. It's something to embrace.
CBS News
3 hours ago
- CBS News
Arson investigation underway after vacant Echo Park church catches fire
An arson investigation is underway after a vacant church in Echo Park caught fire early Thursday morning. The blaze was reported at around 7 a.m. inside of the Echo Park United Methodist Church, located in the 1200 block of N. Alvarado Street, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. It took nearly four dozen firefighters about 20 minutes to extinguish the flames, which they said started inside of a closet in the boarded-up two-story church. With SkyCal overhead, crews both on the roof of the building and on the ground outside could be seen with some white smoke billowing out of the church. Crews said damage to the church was minimal, but they contacted Los Angeles police for an arson investigation to determine what sparked the blaze. No injuries were reported.
