Vanessa Wilson, former Aurora police chief, sues city for claim of 2022 firing "without cause"

A former chief of police in Colorado is suing the city she served, saying it fired her because she was a community advocate for minority groups. The lawsuit includes claims that other elected leaders and police officers pressured the city of Aurora to fire Vanessa Wilson.

The 35-page suit also claims she was taking steps to mend community relations following a state investigation that found, "a long-standing pattern and practice of violating state and federal law through racially biased policing and the use of excessive force which disproportionately injured people of color."

Wilson filed the lawsuit against the City of Aurora on Friday, asserting the city and former City Manager Jim Twombly fired her from the job as top police officer "without cause." At the time that he was city manager, Twombly said he and the city based Wilson's termination on issues in management and leadership at the police department.

Wilson was hired in August 2020 and then lost her job with the Aurora Police Department in April 2022, when she said it was a political decision by the city. The same week she was fired, CBS News Colorado reported that more than 2,500 Aurora Police Department reports dating back to 2021 -- covering crimes such as murder, carjacking and child abuse -- had not been reviewed or entered into the police department's records system, allowing suspects to go free and re-offend.

Wilson's lawsuit asserts there were multiple challenges the police department was entrenched in throughout the community as she took on her new leadership role.

According to the lawsuit, "Chief Wilson was appointed to the top leadership role of the APD at a time when the department was careening through a series of high-profile controversies under the former administration, many race-related, including the tragic murder of Elijah McClain at the hands of the Aurora police and fire departments."

The filing seeks to show the actions of Wilson as a police chief who was engaging with her community and working to mend community relations among minorities, including her participation in past "Black Lives Matter" protests in Aurora.

The lawsuit also points to certain members of Aurora City Council as being highly combative of race reform efforts Wilson was spearheading during her time as chief.

A month after Wilson was fired from Aurora PD, her former partner, Robin Niceta, was accused of making a false claim of child sexual abuse against City Councilwoman Danielle Jurinsky. Wilson was never found to be connected to this criminal case, and Niceta was found guilty of influencing a public servant and filing a false child abuse report in November 2023.

In the new lawsuit, Jurinsky is cited as being publicly oppositional toward Wilson during the period they served concurrently in the city.

"Angered by her advocacy on behalf of people of color and commitment to eradicate racism in the police department, Jurinsky repeatedly publicly called Chief Wilson 'trash' and falsely accused her reforms of making the City, its businesses, and its residents 'unsafe.'"

The lawsuit also claims council members Jurinsky, Steve Sundberg and Dustin Zvonek publicly demanded that Twombly fire Wilson. All three members named still served on the city council as of the time the lawsuit was filed.

Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser and his office began an investigation into systemic racism at Aurora Police Department and Aurora Fire Rescue that resulted in the report released on Sept. 15, 2021. In part, the findings at the time concluded, "Data and other evidence show a pattern and practice of race-based policing in Aurora."

Wilson originally shared her intent to sue the city over firing back in 2022 and Twombly denied all allegations in the notice of claim brought against the city and its employees at that time.

Now that Wilson is officially suing the City of Aurora, the city confirmed it received the documentation, but it had not yet reviewed the claims and could not comment on the lawsuit itself. 

Ultimately, Wilson's lawsuit details five claims of relief and a demand for a jury trial on those claims.

You can read the entire lawsuit here: