CLEVELAND — Cleveland council members Richard Starr and Kevin Conwell stood in front of the April 15 council meeting and renounced the selection of Phillip McHugh as city safety advisor by Mayor Justin Bibb.
Both Starr and Conwell referenced a 2016 civil rights violation lawsuit alleging that when McHugh was a detective in Washington D.C., he violated an elderly black couple's 4th Amendment rights, maliciously prosecuted and inflicted emotional distress on the couple during a 2015 accident investigation. The lawsuit eventually resulted in a six-figure settlement paid for by Washington D.C. taxpayers.
The Cleveland NAACP also called for the removal of McHugh last week.
RELATED: Cleveland safety advisor under fire from NAACP was Mayor Bibb's college roommate
Starr responded after Cleveland's chief communications officer revealed last week that McHugh and Bibb were former college roommates.
"Hiring people who have been at the forefront of a civil rights lawsuit should not be employed here," Starr said. "This needs to stop. We elected you to be a leader for the City of Cleveland; the people elected you, you have accountability to do what's right, but you're hiring friends to do jobs that we know they should not be doing."
Conwell said the hiring of McHugh is even more problematic since he could impact Cleveland police policy decisions, a police department under a federal consent decree for nearly ten years for "use of force" issues.
"What kind of message is he sending to his rank-and-file police officers and firefighters? We're right in the middle of a consent decree," Conwell said. "And you turn around, and you bring in someone because he was your roommate, and you hire him; no, that's not right."
The City of Cleveland defended its decision to hire the former Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police detective, but again, Bibb refused to issue a statement in response to the city council bid to have McHugh removed from his position.
Again, the city stood by its initial written statement:
"The case against Mr. McHugh was dismissed and there was no finding of wrongdoing made by the court or by his previous employer. When Mr. McHugh was selected for a position with the city, he underwent the same onboarding process, including a background check, required of all new city employees. The administration is aware that Mr. McHugh was a party in a lawsuit stemming from a criminal investigation he conducted in conjunction with the United States Attorney’s Office nearly ten years ago in Washington, DC. We are aware that all claims made against Mr. McHugh were dismissed with prejudice prior to the disposition of the matter."
Meanwhile, both Starr and Conwell told News 5 they are working on legislation and changes in the city charter that would give Cleveland City Council authority to approve or deny cabinet positions selected by the administration, a system currently in use by Cuyahoga County Council.
"I'm disappointed in the mayor for hiring this person," Conwell said. "Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, they fought for civil rights, and then the mayor turned around and hires someone like this who did this to a senior citizen couple."
News 5 will continue to follow through on this developing story.
