TULSA, Okla. — Tulsa Police Lieutenant Marcus Harper is suing the City of Tulsa, the Tulsa Police Department, and the Rogers County District Attorney's Office for charges brought against him in 2020.
The case stemmed from a now-former police officer who was found guilty of illegally buying a gun.
In March 2021, a Federal Grand Jury failed to indict Harper. TPD continued to press the case and referred it to the Oklahoma Attorney General, who assigned the case to the Oklahoma County District Attorney.
The OCDA investigated the case and refused to charge Harper. The case was then given to Tulsa County, which recused from the case. The Rogers County District Attorney took up the case a few months later.
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Harper was charged with one count of accessory to a felony after the fact and an alternate count of obstructing officers, which is a misdemeanor.
Harper was found not guilty in June 2024.
In the lawsuit filed June 12, Harper claims those charges were malicious and a response to him criticizing TPD in a July 2020 press conference.
"He criticized TPD for common practices against the public good, officer 'cliques' which cause strife and division within TPD, and systemic racist practices of certain officers," court documents read.
His criticisms came after leaked audio of a Tulsa police major saying the department was "shooting African Americans about 24% less than we ought to be"
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Harper's wife is District 1 City Councilor Vanessa Hall-Harper, who has accused TPD of targeting her husband in the past.
The lawsuit claims the charges against Lt. Harper were without probable cause and caused him emotional distress and other damages.
"Prosecuting Plaintiff, in spite of the lack of evidence substantiating a crime, and the evidence supporting that Plaintiff committed no criminal act, were so extreme and outrageous as to go beyond all possible bounds of decency and would be considered atrocious and utterly intolerable," the lawsuit reads.
He's seeking relief in excess of $10,000, including compensatory and exemplary damages.
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