Tulsa, Okla. — A retired major with the Tulsa Police Department is suing the City of Tulsa and the department. She said she spoke up about wrongdoing, and she got demoted for it.

The retired major Tracie Lewis took the stand and told her story on Tuesday in court. She also told FOX23 why she took the police department to court.

Lewis graduated from the Tulsa Police Academy in 1989 and joined the police department as a rookie cop.

"[I] loved to be a policeman, loved the Tulsa community," she said.

Over the next 26 years, Tracie moved up through the ranks. She eventually became major. By 2015, she was up for a big promotion, deputy chief.

"I was the first female to make the list, and that would have made me the first female deputy chief," Lewis explained.

Lewis said their roles were ranked and the chief had always gone in order in prior promotions.

"I did feel like I would get it," she said.

That was 2015. Then something happened. Lewis said a records supervisor job came open in her division. Thirteen people applied. She said a woman who already worked for TPD also wanted the job, and some people high up in TPD wanted to make it happen.

"They wanted to, in their own words, change the job description, so that one particular person could get it," Lewis explained. "And I said, 'You guys can't do that, it's unethical. It's wrong.'"

Lewis said the woman who wanted the job already worked under her.

"She even approached me and said, 'This can be rewritten.' And I said, 'They can't do that. They can't do that just for you.'"

Lewis said getting a job at the police department is supposed to be merit based.

"They were going to change it to fit her, what she could qualify for, and she would not have qualified otherwise," Lewis said.

Lewis said they wanted to change the educational requirement so the woman would fit the criteria.

Lewis said they needed her out of the way to do that.

"So they concocted a story that I assaulted someone," she said. "They said, 'Well, we're working the allegation that you assaulted someone.' And I literally about fell out of my chair. And I was like, 'Who?' And then they tell me, and I'm just like, got to be kidding me. It was a complete fabrication."

Court documents claim the assault allegation was reported seven weeks later.

"That I hit someone, that I hit a civilian employee in records," Lewis explained. "It crushed me."

Leis said she did confront that employee about a police procedure.

"I just said, 'Sister, don't. You got to go through your chain of command,'" Lewis said.

Lewis said they claim she reared back and then hit the employee. But the employee alleged to have been hit wasn't the one to report it. Someone else did.

"Who the job description was being revised for is the one that reported it," Lewis said.

Court records claim that on Feb. 3, 2015, Lewis "struck civilian employee on the shoulder."

It further claims "at the time, no one acted as if any physical contact had occurred, was significant or even reportable."

"Well, they lied. I mean, unfortunately," Lewis said. "And that was what was disappointing. It came out, the inconsistencies. Right hand, left hand, left shoulder, right shoulder, I was here I was there. It was all over the place every time they gave an interview. Well, my testimony has been the same."

She said another witness was there, a records supervisor.

"They asked him, 'Why didn't you report it?' because he was retired TPD. He said because there was nothing to it," Lewis said.

Court documents show police do believe the assault happened.

The document claims "Lewis obviously has no evidence that anyone lied. Lewis punched (the employee) in early February 2015, yet Lewis still refuses to accept responsibility for her actions."

It goes on to say the employee has repeatedly told the internal affairs investigator that she did not report the punch because it happened in front of (her) supervisor.

It also says "she just wanted to forget it, for it to be over."

FOX23 asked Lewis if she hit the employee.

"No, absolutely not," she said. "I don't even know if I touched her, like patted, like 'Sister, don't do that.'"

"But that incident, is really the only thing they could take and make something out of it to meet their needs," Lewis continued.

The woman who said she saw the assault happen got the supervisor job.

"The good ol' boy system. They got what they wanted," Lewis said.

TPD put Lewis on paid leave, then demoted her all the way down to police officer.

Lewis said that type of demotion had never been done before. She said it was the biggest demotion in Tulsa Police history.

"Oh, it was heart wrenching, obviously, to go from a commander, back down to an officer," she said. "Everywhere I went, I had an explanation to give. So it was very embarrassing."

Lewis said people believed what they wanted to and some even removed her as a friend on Facebook and refused to speak to her when seeing her in person.

"I knew I was gonna win it back. I held my head up high. I worked hard, never missed a day, never called in," she said.

While she worked as a police officer, TPD promoted someone else to deputy chief, the job Lewis said should've been hers.

In December 2015, Tracie fought her demotion through the police union's arbitration process.

She won. She got her rank back in March 2016. She went to back to work as a major again.

"My first staff meeting, I go in and there's no chair, you know, and they're all looking at me, right? They knew I was coming back because the word had been out and stuff but, you know, I had to get a chair from the side," Lewis said. 

She said she felt ostracized.

Then in 2020, Lewis decided to retire after 32 years on the force.

"It broke my heart. It broke my heart and I was continuing to see the same people and no consequences," she said.

Lewis said she decided to sue because she ran out of options. 

"This was my last option. I went to every person that should have fixed this. And nobody did. And nobody would listen, and nobody heard me," she explained.

Lewis said once she won her rank back in arbitration, she filed an internal affairs complaint with TPD. When that didn't go anywhere, she said she made an ethics complaint.

"To no avail. Still never heard anything back on that," she said.

Now, she's taking the police department to court.

"I'm suing to make those responsible, be heard out loud in a court of law," she said. "It's the principle of it, all the way."

"Nobody heard me, not one person," she added. "So I'm counting on 12 people in the jury to listen, to listen to what they're saying. And look at what they did."

FOX23 wanted to get an interview with police about this. The City of Tulsa said they and the Tulsa Police Department don't do interviews when they're apart of a trial.

Jurors are supposed to hear testimony from 9 or 10 people. FOX23 plans to be at the hearings all week and let you know what happens.