Niles v. United States Capitol Police Board ( 2023 )


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  •                                UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
    FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
    LISA NILES,
    Plaintiff,
    v.                                                       Civil Action No. 16-1209 (TSC)
    U.S. CAPITOL POLICE,
    Defendant.
    MEMORANDUM OPINION
    Plaintiff Lisa Niles, a former police officer with the U.S. Capitol Police (“USCP”), has
    sued the USCP, claiming that her termination constituted disability discrimination under the
    Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) and race and sex discrimination under Title VII of the
    Civil Rights Act of 1964. USCP has moved for summary judgment. ECF No. 52. For the
    reasons stated below, the court will GRANT Defendant’s Motion.
    I.     BACKGROUND
    In reciting the relevant facts, the court relies mainly on the undisputed material facts set
    forth by Defendant, along with Plaintiff’s responses thereto. Pl.’s Resp. to Def.’s Statement of
    Undisputed Material Facts, ECF No. 55-1 (“Pl.’s Resp. to SUMF”). At the outset, a word about
    the meaning of “undisputed” facts is in order. The party seeking summary judgment bears the
    “initial responsibility of informing the district court of the basis for its motion, and identifying
    those portions of the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file,
    together with the affidavits, if any, which it believes demonstrate the absence of a genuine issue
    of material fact.” Celotex Corp. v. Catrett, 
    477 U.S. 317
    , 323 (1986) (internal quotation marks
    omitted). To dispute a fact, “the non-movant must rely on evidence—i.e., its opposition must
    Page 1 of 15
    consist of more than mere unsupported allegations or denials and must be supported by
    affidavits, declarations, or other competent evidence, setting forth specific facts showing that
    there is a genuine issue for trial.” Rochon v. Lynch, 
    139 F. Supp. 3d 394
     (D.D.C. 2015)
    (quotation omitted), aff’d, 
    664 F. App’x 8
     (D.C. Cir. 2016). Where Defendant has stated certain
    facts and supported them with evidence, therefore, the court treats those facts as undisputed if
    Plaintiff’s only response is to deny them without counter evidence or to raise generic protests
    against them that are unrelated to the facts’ veracity.
    Accordingly, the following facts are undisputed: On May 30, 2014, Amtrak contacted
    Defendant to report two incidents in which Plaintiff—who is a Black woman—“boarded an
    Amtrak train as a passenger and did not pay her fare.” Pl.’s Resp. to SUMF ¶¶ 68–69.
    According to the Amtrak Police Department (APD), the first incident occurred on February 26,
    2014 and Plaintiff “not only did not pay for a ticket,” but also “sought to avoid getting
    discovered by a conductor by moving to another car or going to the bathroom while the
    conductor collected tickets.” Id. ¶ 70. The conductor also said that “he observed Plaintiff
    remove a seat check from another passenger’s seat” and then claim that another conductor had
    given it to her, which the other conductor denied. Id. ¶ 86. An APD officer’s report states that
    when he confronted Plaintiff about her lack of ticket or payment, she “explained that she did not
    realize she could not take Amtrak Trains.” Id. ¶ 77. The officer explained to her Amtrak’s
    policy that non-Amtrak law enforcement officers “are required to have a ticket to ride.” Id.
    ¶¶ 77–78.
    The second incident occurred on May 17, 2014. An Amtrak conductor said she
    encountered Plaintiff on the station platform at Wilmington, Delaware, asked if Plaintiff had a
    ticket, and Plaintiff answered that she did. Id. ¶ 82. But when the conductor asked Plaintiff to
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    show the ticket after she boarded the train, “Plaintiff appeared to search for a ticket but then
    stated ‘Well, I don’t actually have a ticket-ticket.’” Id. The conductor, who later told Defendant
    that “other conductors had previously had issues with Plaintiff riding Amtrak without paying,”
    id. ¶ 84, once again summoned APD officers, id. ¶ 94. An officer stated that she escorted
    Plaintiff to the APD office and explained “that this was not the first time she had stopped
    Plaintiff,” and that Plaintiff “had committed a crime.” Id. ¶ 96.
    Defendant appointed an Investigator in its Office of Professional Responsibility (“OPR”)
    to review Amtrak’s complaint against Plaintiff. Id. ¶ 76. The Investigator spoke with the
    Amtrak conductors and APD officers involved in the two incidents. Id. ¶¶ 77–78, 80, 85, 93.
    The Investigator also interviewed Plaintiff twice, and in both interviews she acknowledged her
    obligation to answer all questions truthfully. Id. ¶ 100. During the interviews, Plaintiff denied
    that she was stopped by APD on February 26, 2014, or that she had been informed of Amtrak’s
    policy requiring non-Amtrak law enforcement officers to purchase tickets. Id. ¶¶ 102, 112–13.
    Plaintiff did recall being stopped by APD on May 17, 2014 but denied that she had told a
    conductor that she had a ticket before boarding. Id. ¶ 102, 106. Plaintiff claimed that she had
    asked a male conductor whether it was “okay for [her] to ride, and he nodded his head . . . as to
    mean yes.” Id. ¶ 111. Later, Plaintiff said, she “was told to get off the train by a female
    conductor and did not resist” paying for the ticket “because APD asked her to pay.” Id. ¶¶ 109–
    110. But she admitted that “she continued to ride the train without paying even after being
    stopped on May 17, 2014 and told by APD that from then on she needed to purchase a ticket
    before she boarded any Amtrak train.” Def.’s Mot. for Summary Judgment, Ex. 4 at 8, ECF No.
    52-6.
    Page 3 of 15
    Based on his review, the Investigator “sustained”—that is, “found sufficient evidence that
    a violation of [Defendant’s] Rules of Conduct occurred,” Pl.’s Resp. to SUMF ¶ 37—charges
    against Plaintiff for “Conduct Unbecoming” and “Truthfulness,” id. ¶ 116. The Investigator’s
    report was approved by OPR officials and submitted to Disciplinary Review Officer (“DRO”)
    Scharon Ball for assignment of a recommended penalty based on “the nature and seriousness of
    the offense, the employment history of the employee, any mitigating factors, and penalties issued
    in similar cases.” Id. ¶¶ 122, 46.
    Ball recommended a penalty of demotion for the Conduct Unbecoming charge, and
    termination for the Truthfulness charge. Id. ¶ 123. Specifically, she found that “Plaintiff’s
    conduct was extremely serious” because it “was technically a crime,” because Plaintiff had
    repeated the conduct even after having been stopped by APD Officers on February 26, because
    Plaintiff apparently attempted to mislead Amtrak conductors during both incidents, and because
    Plaintiff (as a Sergeant) was a “supervisory law enforcement officer.” Id. ¶ 125. Ball found
    “that Plaintiff’s version of events was not credible” given the “multiple witness statements and
    police reports” contradicting it. Id. ¶ 126. Ball considered Plaintiff’s otherwise good
    employment history, but concluded that it did not warrant a penalty reduction. Id. ¶ 127. Ball
    also noted as a potential mitigating factor that some Amtrak conductors apparently allowed
    Plaintiff to ride the train without paying, which “could have confused Plaintiff into believing that
    an Amtrak policy entitled law enforcement to courtesy rides.” Id. ¶ 128. However, Ball
    reasoned that any confusion “should have [been] cleared up on February 26, when the policy was
    explained to her,” and that in any event the confusion “could not explain her attempts to deceive
    the Amtrak conducts” during both incidents. Id. Ball did not find any similar recent cases
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    involving “supervisors making untruthful statements during OPR investigations or being stopped
    multiple time[s] by an external police agency for unlawful conduct.” Id. ¶ 129.
    After Plaintiff was presented with the charges, she appealed them to USCP’s Disciplinary
    Review Board Panel. Id. ¶¶ 131, 134. During the appeal proceedings, Plaintiff admitted that
    APD Officers had in fact told her that riding without a ticket was unlawful. Id. ¶ 137. She also
    presented evidence from a neurologist, Dr. Reed. Id. ¶ 134. Based on “Plaintiff’s past medical
    records, an old MRI, and Plaintiff’s representations to him that she did not remember the
    February 26, 2014 incident,” Dr. Reed characterized that lack of recollection as a “[l]ong
    amnesic episode . . . that could have represented transient global amnesia” and may have been
    related to Plaintiff being “under a lot of stress, depression, anxiety, and poor sleep” at the time.
    Id. ¶ 160. Ultimately, the Panel upheld both the charges against Plaintiff and the penalties
    recommended by DRO Ball. Id. ¶ 138–39. In addition to the grounds set forth in Ball’s
    recommendation, the Panel also noted that Plaintiff’s admission that APD Officers had warned
    her that ticketless riding was a crime meant that she had not been truthful in telling the
    Investigator that she had never received any such warning. Id. ¶ 141.
    Plaintiff then appealed her penalty recommendation to USCP Chief of Police Kim C.
    Dine. Id. ¶¶ 8, 142. She did not contest the charges themselves but argued that the
    recommendation and the Panel “failed to properly consider evidence of [her] mental condition”
    and otherwise did not properly account for all four relevant factors. Id. ¶¶ 143–44. Chief Dine
    denied the appeal for reasons similar to those in the penalty recommendation and Panel decision.
    Id. ¶¶ 146–51. In particular, he noted Plaintiff’s untruthfulness to the Investigator about APD
    warning her, and stated that he “did not believe that Plaintiff was truthful when she told OPR that
    she had no recollection” of the February 14, 2014 incident. Id. ¶ 148. Chief Dine likewise did
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    not credit Plaintiff’s claim that she suffered from amnesia, noting that all the doctors who had
    examined Plaintiff found that “her neural examination was ‘from head to toe normal’ and her
    supervisors did not observe any memory difficulties,” including on February 14. Id. He also
    declined to consider Plaintiff’s statement in her appeal that she “had not taken the train without
    paying since May 17, 2014” as a mitigating factor because it “was contradicted by Plaintiff’s
    Statements to [the] Investigator.” Id. ¶ 149. Chief Dine therefore recommended to the Capitol
    Police Board that Plaintiff be terminated, and the Board agreed and approved the termination
    effective August 24, 2015. Id. ¶¶ 154–56.
    After her termination, Plaintiff submitted requests for Counseling and Mediation with the
    Office of Compliance pursuant to Section 402 of the Congressional Accountability Act, alleging
    that she was terminated based on race, sex, national origin, color, disability, and age, and denied
    FMLA leave. Id. ¶ 157. That mediation ended on March 28, 2016, and Plaintiff brought this suit
    on June 20, 2016. Id. ¶¶ 157–58; see Compl., ECF No. 1. In 2019, the court granted in part and
    denied in part Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss Plaintiff’s Amended Complaint. See Order, ECF
    No. 27; Amended Order, ECF No. 30; Niles v. U.S. Capitol Police, 
    2019 WL 1858503
     (D.D.C.
    Apr. 25, 2019).
    II.     LEGAL STANDARD
    Summary judgment is appropriate where there is no disputed genuine issue of material
    fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a); Celotex, 
    477 U.S. at
    322–23. “A genuine issue of material fact exists if the evidence, ‘viewed in a light most
    favorable to the nonmoving party,’ could support a reasonable jury’s verdict for the non-moving
    party.” Brooks v. Grundmann, 
    748 F.3d 1273
    , 1276 (D.C. Cir. 2014) (citing Hampton v. Vilsack,
    
    685 F.3d 1096
    , 1099 (D.C. Cir. 2012)). Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56 “mandates the entry
    of summary judgment, after adequate time for discovery and upon motion, against a party who
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    fails to make a showing sufficient to establish the existence of an element essential to that party’s
    case, and on which that party will bear the burden of proof at trial.” Celotex, 
    477 U.S. at 322
    .
    Thus, “a complete failure of proof concerning an essential element of the nonmoving party’s
    case necessarily renders all other facts immaterial.” 
    Id. at 323
    .
    III.      ANALYSIS
    A. Disability discrimination
    The Congressional Accountability Act extends certain ADA protections to legislative
    branch employees, including USCP officers. See 
    2 U.S.C. § 1311
    (a). The court evaluates ADA
    claims under the burden-shifting framework established by McDonnell Douglas Corp. v. Green,
    
    411 U.S. 792
     (1973). To make a prima facie case of discrimination under the ADA, a plaintiff
    must show that (1) she was disabled within the meaning of the ADA, (2) she was qualified for
    the position at issue with or without a reasonable accommodation, and (3) she suffered an
    adverse employment action because of her disability. Giles v. Transit Emp. Fed. Credit Union,
    
    794 F.3d 1
    , 5 (D.C. Cir. 2015). A person is disabled under the ADA if she has a physical or
    mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of her major life activities, has a record
    of such an impairment, or has been regarded as having such an impairment. See 
    42 U.S.C. § 12102
    (1)(A)–(C).
    Plaintiff’s prima facie case of disability discrimination fails at the first step: She has
    failed to present sufficient evidence that she was disabled within the meaning of the ADA.
    Plaintiff cites only to the three doctors’ reports she solicited in 2014 through 2016. See Pl.’s
    Opp. to Def.’s MSJ at 9, ECF No. 55. But none of the reports show that Plaintiff has or had an
    impairment that substantially limits one or more of her major life activities, much less that she
    has been regarded as having that impairment or has a record of it. Dr. Reed’s report only
    speculated that Plaintiff’s inability to recall the events of February 26, 2014 “could have
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    represented transient global amnesia” without reaching that conclusion, specifically noting that
    further episodes would necessitate “differential diagnoses,” ECF No. 58-19 at PDF p. 6—that is,
    gathering additional information to ascertain the medical cause of the memory loss, see
    Diagnosis and differential diagnosis, 3 Mod. Sci. Evidence § 21:40 (2022-2023 Edition).
    Likewise, Dr. Geary only noted that any potential “differential diagnosis would include transient
    global amnesia; short-term memory loss related to severe stress, depress, anxiety; [and]
    nonconvulsive status epileptics”—without determining whether Plaintiff actually suffered from
    any of those conditions. ECF No. 58-20 at PDF p. 4. And Dr. Porter similarly went only as far
    as stating that Plaintiff “may have suffered from episodic problems with her recall” that “are
    notable in patients with cognitive impairments such as dementia, but are also seen in normal
    individuals,” especially those experiencing “stress, depression, and sleep deprivation.” ECF No.
    58-23 at PDF p. 3.
    Moreover, all three doctors’ reports confirm that Plaintiff had only one claimed instance
    of memory loss, and that she was otherwise in good physical and neurological health. See ECF
    No. 58-19 at PDF p. 6; ECF No. 58-20 at PDF p. 5–6; ECF No. 58-23 at PDF p. 2–3; see also
    Pl.’s Resp. to SUMF ¶ 148 (Chief Dine “noting that Plaintiff’s doctors said that her neural
    examination was ‘from head to toe normal’ and her supervisors did not observe any memory
    difficulties”). At the motion to dismiss stage, the court liberally construed Plaintiff’s Amended
    Complaint as alleging “more than one occasion” of memory loss, which could constitute an
    impairment to major life activities like “reading, concentrating, thinking, and communication.”
    See Niles, 
    2019 WL 1858503
     at *4. “The burden at the summary judgment stage and at trial is
    different and substantially more onerous than the pleading burden.” Nanko Shipping, USA v.
    Alcoa, Inc., 
    850 F.3d 461
    , 467 (D.C. Cir. 2017). Because Plaintiff has failed to meaningfully
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    substantiate any such impairment, she has failed to meet her burden of establishing at least a
    material dispute of fact as to whether she was disabled. Without that essential element, her claim
    of disability discrimination cannot succeed, and the court will grant summary judgment to
    Defendant. Accordingly, the court need not reach Defendant’s additional arguments regarding
    whether Plaintiff’s termination was “because of” her disability. See Def.’s MSJ Memo at 26–31,
    ECF No. 52-1.
    B. Age and race discrimination
    The Congressional Accountability Act also extends Title VII’s protections to legislative
    branch employees like Plaintiff, and here, too, the McDonnell Douglas burden-shifting
    framework applies. 
    2 U.S.C. § 1311
    (a)(1); see Tex. Dep’t of Cmty. Affairs v. Burdine, 
    450 U.S. 248
    , 252–53 (1981) (applying the McDonnell Douglas framework in Title VII case). But in this
    case, Defendant does not contest that Plaintiff has made out prima facie cases for race and sex
    discrimination, instead arguing that “it has presented a valid business reason for its decision to
    terminate” Plaintiff—her Rules of Conduct violations—and that she has not demonstrated that
    that reason was a pretext for discrimination. Def.’s MSJ Memo at 31–32; Niles, 
    2019 WL 1858503
     at *6. A plaintiff may show that an employer’s stated reason for the employment action
    is a pretext for discrimination by either: (1) producing evidence suggesting that the employer
    treated other employees of a different race or sex “more favorably in the same factual
    circumstances”; or (2) producing evidence suggesting that “the employer is making up or lying
    about the underlying facts that formed the predicate for the employment decision.” Brady v. Off.
    of Sergeant at Arms, 
    520 F.3d 490
    , 495 (D.C. Cir. 2008).
    Plaintiff attempts to make the first kind of showing by identifying other USCP employees
    of a different race or sex who, she argues, were treated more favorably despite being similarly
    situated. To be similarly situated, the plaintiff and the potential comparator must be “charged
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    with offenses of comparable seriousness,” and “all of the relevant aspects of [their] employment
    situation [must be] nearly identical.” Burley v. Nat’l Passenger Rail Corp., 
    801 F.3d 290
    , 301
    (D.C. Cir. 2015) (quotations omitted). “Factors that bear on whether someone is an appropriate
    comparator include the similarity of the plaintiff’s and the putative comparator’s jobs and job
    duties, whether they were disciplined by the same supervisor, and, in cases involving discipline,
    the similarity of their offenses.” 
    Id.
     As the court has already noted, the plaintiff “bears the
    burden of coming forward with affirmative comparator evidence.” Niles, 
    2019 WL 1858503
     at
    *7.
    Plaintiff contends that she has identified twelve comparators, to whom the parties refer
    anonymously by abbreviated titles and numbers:
    (1) PFC29: a white male Private First Class charged with Conduct Unbecoming and
    given a 14-day suspension after being evasive with another police department during
    a traffic stop, Def.’s Resp. to Pl.’s Statement of Material Facts in Dispute ¶¶ 2–7;
    (2) PFC17: a white female Private First Class charged with Conduct Unbecoming and
    given a 3-day suspension after yelling at another driver and breaking their door
    handle after a traffic accident, 
    id.
     ¶¶ 8–14;
    (3) PFC22: a white male Private First Class charged with Conduct Unbecoming and
    given a 14-day suspension after being investigated for taking items from a
    convenience store despite his credit card being declined, and resisting direction from
    the store employees and another police department for him to properly pay for the
    items, 
    id.
     ¶ 15–25;
    Page 10 of 15
    (4) DC01: a white male management official charged with Conduct Unbecoming and
    demoted after failing to disclose a romantic relationship with a subordinate officer, 
    id.
    ¶¶ 26–33;
    (5) PFC13: a Black male Private First Class charged with Conduct Unbecoming and
    given a warning after a dangerous traffic violation, 
    id.
     ¶¶ 34–40;
    (6) PFC15: a Black male Private First Class charged with Conduct Unbecoming and
    given a 1-day suspension after deliberately shouldering into another officer in the
    hallway, 
    id.
     ¶¶ 41–47;
    (7) PFC26: a white male Private First Class charged with Conduct Unbecoming and
    given 10-day and 7-day suspensions, plus removal from a certain detail, for
    threatening, demeaning, and aggressive behavior with his team and multiple
    unauthorized vehicle stops, 
    id.
     ¶¶ 48–53;
    (8) SGT03: a white female Sergeant charged with Truthfulness in 2003 after lying about
    attending a meeting, whose recommended penalty of termination was reduced
    pursuant to a settlement, and who was charged with Conduct Unbecoming and
    demoted in 2015 after providing a photo of a firearm left in a bathroom in the Capitol
    Visitor’s Center to the media, 
    id.
     ¶¶ 54–63;
    (9) LT01: a Black male Lieutenant charged with Conduct Unbecoming and given a 7-day
    suspension after getting into a confrontation with another officer, 
    id.
     ¶¶ 64–70;
    (10)   CPT01: a white female Captain charged with Conduct Unbecoming and given a
    7-day suspension after keeping unauthorized copies of documents from a prior OPR
    investigation, 
    id.
     ¶¶ 71–78;
    Page 11 of 15
    (11)    LT03: a white female Lieutenant charged with Conduct Unbecoming and given a
    3-day suspension after disclosing details of an OPR investigation through
    unauthorized channels, 
    id.
     ¶¶ 79–86;
    (12)    PFC27: a white male Private First Class charged with Conduct Unbecoming and
    given 30 days of suspension over 6 months after failing to disclose a previously
    unreported DUI, 
    id.
     ¶¶ 87–92.
    Plaintiff argues that these “comparators that show a pattern and practice of the Department to
    give lenient punishments for similar activity to employees outside of Plaintiff’s protected
    classes.” Pl.’s Opp. to Def.’s MSJ at 10.
    In denying Defendant’s motion to dismiss, the court noted that Plaintiff may have
    “difficulties . . . [in] locating appropriate comparators,” and that prediction has proved prescient.
    See Niles, 
    2019 WL 1858503
     at *7. While the twelve disciplined USCP employees Plaintiff
    proffers as comparators share some commonalities with her, each is meaningfully distinct in one
    or more of “the relevant aspects of [their] employment situation”—including their “jobs and job
    duties, whether they were disciplined by the same supervisor, and . . . the similarity of their
    offenses.” Burley, 
    801 F.3d at 301
    . Consequently, none of the twelve other employees were
    similarly situated enough to be an appropriate comparator for the discipline Plaintiff received
    here. 
    Id.
    Courts in this district have routinely recognized that “employees and supervisors
    necessarily possess different job functions and responsibilities” and are therefore not similarly
    situated. Clarke v. Washington Metro. Area Transit Auth., 
    904 F. Supp. 2d 11
    , 17 (D.D.C.
    2012), aff’d, 
    540 F. App’x 3
     (D.C. Cir. 2013); White v. Tapella, 
    876 F. Supp. 2d 58
    , 71 (D.D.C.
    2012). In addition, Defendant reports that “generally speaking, supervisors are held to [a] higher
    Page 12 of 15
    standard” than other USCP employees. Pl.’s Resp. to Def.’s SUMF ¶ 47. That makes all of the
    non-supervisor, Private First Class comparators—seven of the twelve employees identified—
    differently situated from Plaintiff by virtue of her supervisory position as a Sergeant.
    Plaintiff has also failed to show that any of the twelve comparators were disciplined by
    the same supervisor as her. She points to “no record evidence whatsoever” that they share “the
    same chain of command.” Anyaso v. United States Capitol Police, 
    39 F. Supp. 3d 34
    , 43
    (D.D.C. 2014). At most, Plaintiff notes that the DRO assigned to recommend the charge and
    penalty against her, Scharon Ball, was also assigned to five of her proposed comparators: PFC22,
    PFC15, SGT03, CPT01, and LT03. See Pl.’s Opp. to Def.’s MSJ at 12–14. But DROs do not
    supervise USCP officers, or even have the power to impose disciplinary penalties; their role is
    limited to making a recommendation which must then be approved by the Deputy General
    Counsel and Bureau Commander. See Pl.’s Resp. to Def.’s SUMF ¶¶ 43, 46, 51–53. As a result,
    the common DRO does not demonstrate that the “individuals involved in [the] disciplinary
    process with the power to grant or deny a [penalty]” were the same. Burley, 
    801 F.3d at 295, 302
    ; see Ladson v. George Washington Univ., 
    204 F. Supp. 3d 56
    , 67 (D.D.C. 2016) (concluding
    that a fellow police officer was not “a comparator to Plaintiff because he was not supervised by
    [the same] Chief”). In other words, Plaintiff has not identified a common supervisor with any of
    her proposed comparators.
    Beyond the different institutional positions held by Plaintiff and her proposed
    comparators, the conduct underlying their respective penalties is also different. The offenses
    need not match exactly, of course, so long as they are of comparable seriousness. Burley, 
    801 F.3d at 301
    . But even framing Plaintiff’s charges in general terms—(1) repeated failure to pay
    for services (2) despite having been warned about its illegality, plus (3) untruthfulness with the
    Page 13 of 15
    personnel investigating those incidents—none of the proposed comparators’ conduct is a
    sufficient match. Many of the other officers’ offenses, like PFC13’s traffic violation or PFC15’s
    bumping into another officer in the hallway, were not “of even arguably comparable
    seriousness.” 
    Id. at 302
    . Only one of the other officers, SGT03, also faced a Truthfulness
    charge, and that was for an incident more than a decade removed from her Conduct Unbecoming
    charge. Def.’s Resp. to Pl.’s Statement of Material Facts in Dispute ¶¶ 54–63. And only one
    other officer, PFC22, had conduct involving taking something without paying for it, but that was
    a single instance and he was not also charged with a Truthfulness violation. 
    Id.
     ¶¶ 15–25. 1 In
    sum, although some of the twelve other officers were charged with some offenses comparable to
    some of Plaintiff’s charges, none were charged with all. Accordingly, none is an appropriate
    comparator, and Plaintiff has not met her burden to supply evidence calling into question
    whether Defendant’s otherwise valid reasons for terminating her were pretexts for
    discrimination.
    1
    Plaintiff asserts that several of the other twelve officers could have been charged with
    untruthfulness but were not—presumably because of their favored race or sex. Pl.’s Opp. to
    Def.’s MSJ at 12–14. But OPR’s investigators only sustain charges against officers when they
    find that “a preponderance of the evidence shows that a violation occurred.” Pl.’s Resp. to
    Def.’s SUMF ¶¶ 34–37. Plaintiff does not identify such a finding for any of the other officers.
    See Def.’s Reply at 6 n.5, 9–10, 12, 14–15.
    Page 14 of 15
    IV.     CONCLUSION
    Plaintiff has not sufficiently shown that there is a genuine disputed issue of material fact
    with respect to essential elements of both her ADA and Title VII claims. Consequently, the
    court will GRANT Defendant’s Motion for Summary Judgment, ECF No. 52. An Order will
    accompany this Memorandum Opinion.
    Date: June 8, 2023
    Tanya S. Chutkan
    TANYA S. CHUTKAN
    United States District Judge
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