Atlanta Police Fired Black Woman After Daughter Criticized Cops, Wrongful Termination Lawsuit Claims
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Rhonda Frost, the former Deputy Director of Public Affairs with the Atlanta Police Department, is suing Mayor Andre Dickens and Chief of Police Darin Schierbaum for wrongful termination.
Inside her suit filed on March 18, Frost, who served as deputy director from 2019 to 2023, claimed that she was terminated from her job after her daughter, Shanae Hall, publicly criticized the Atlanta Police Department’s decision to charge Chaka Zulu, Ludacris’ longtime manager, with murder following a shooting incident in Buckhead in 2022. Frost was sent home, and investigated before she received a termination notice from Atlanta authorities.
“I was locked out of my office, investigated then fired,” Frost told NewsOne via e-mail about the harsh punishment she allegedly endured during her firing. She also sent us a copy of the suit.
“It is surreal what Police Chief Darin Schierbaum, COO Peter Aman, and a host of others did to me all because my daughter publicly challenged the charges and brought media attention to the case.”
Hall made national headlines in September 2022 when she took to Instagram and shared a video discussing the fatal shooting incident involving her close friend Zulu that occurred in the parking lot of the restaurant Apartment 4B in Buckhead in June 2022.
After reviewing the surveillance footage of the incident, Hall asserted that Zulu, whose real name is Ahmed Obafemi, was assaulted by four individuals in what appeared to be a robbery attempt. Upon rising to defend himself against his assailants, Zulu fatally shot one of them. Additionally, during his attempt to seek refuge inside his establishment, Zulu sustained a gunshot wound to the back from one of the suspects.
In a series of videos, Hall contended that Zulu bore no responsibility for the shooting, arguing that he was trying to de-escalate the situation rather than incite it. Miraculously, in November of the same year, Fulton District Attorney Fani Willis dropped all charges against the talent manager.
However, Hall alleged that during this period, high-ranking officials at the Atlanta Police Department cast doubt on her mother and falsely accused Frost of leaking the video of the shooting to her. Frost was terminated in May 2023 after an 8-month investigation initiated by the department.
“I was locked out of my place of employment, put under an almost 8-month investigation without explanation or due process, then fired under the guise of “Reduction in Force”, after the investigation found I had done nothing wrong,” Frost told NewsOne. “Just unbelievable. But police will do what police feel they can get away with.”
Frost is suing Mayor Dickens, Chief of Police Darin Schierbaum, COO Peter Aman, and several other individuals from the department for lost wages, punitive damages, and emotional distress.
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