A jury this week awarded $11.5 million to a former Los Angeles Police K-9 supervisor who sued the city alleging that his supervisors retaliated against and discriminated against him in part because of his Samoan origin.
Officer Mark Sauvao – pronounced “su-VOW” – claimed he was unfairly punished after he reported that some of his colleagues called him names such as “cannibal” and “barefoot coconut tree climber.” A supervisor reportedly referred to him as being from Tonga; Saufau took this comment as an insult given the bitter early history of war and slavery between Samoa and Tonga.
Sauvao, who still works for the department, also alleged that officers spread false rumors that he tried to extort fellow K-9 handlers by refusing to train them unless they gave him their overtime hours.
The city could still challenge the size of the jury's award.
From 2005 to 2017, Sauvao was assigned to the department's elite K-9 bomb detection unit. The 30-year LAPD veteran said his problems began several years after his promotion to dog trainer, which came with additional pay and benefits.
Savau said that after learning of the rumors about him, he called on the unit commander, Lieutenant Raymond Garvin, to intervene and open an investigation into the officers who spread them. He claimed neither of them happened.
Another colleague testified that Garvin relayed the moonlighting allegations against Savau to other officers in a phone call made at a nearby bagel shop. One member of the group accused Sauvao of being the “leader” of a faction within the K-9 unit that called itself the “PM-Watch Mafia,” according to testimony. Savau denies these allegations.
Garvin previously sued the city alleging an administration official conspired to oust him from the unit, which resulted in a $700,000 settlement.
Savau said he eventually brought the matter to Capt. Katherine Meek of the Emergency Services Division, who oversees the K-9 unit and bomb squad. Instead of investigating his reports, internal affairs investigators came to search his locker several months later, which he believes was retaliation for filing his earlier complaints, Savau said.
Savau said his request to contact a police union representative after the inspection was denied.
He was later ordered to undergo psychological testing and was eventually transferred to an undesirable assignment which resulted in him being separated from his police K-9 called Pistol, according to the lawsuit.
Sauvao's attorney, Matthew McNicholas, said the award is the latest he has won in cases involving K-9 unit members. Two other cases from around 2008 resulted in jury awards of $3.6 million and $2.2 million, respectively, he said. That the same unit continues to have problems 15 years later indicates a lack of oversight, he said.
“This tells me that the leadership continues to do what they want, and that unless someone like me steps in, they are going to get away with it,” McNicholas said. “Ninety-eight percent of the people in the department are hard-working people who go to work, do their job and go home; the unfortunate thing is that the other 2% have a lot of power.
The city attorney's office did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment, and an LAPD spokeswoman said the department would not discuss the case.
Savao's allegations were similar to those of another K-9 handler working in the unit at the time, Alfredo Franco, who also sued the city over the discrimination and retaliation he reportedly faced after standing by Savao.
Several of Savau's former colleagues testified about his usefulness in depositions filed in the case, with one saying he had an “impeccable” reputation and another describing the respect he commanded within the professional community of police K-9 trainers nationally.
