JPD Chief sounds off on sexual, racial discrimination suit
Jackson Police Dept. Chief Lee Vance comments on a lawsuit against the city of Jackson and police department officials alleging a commander used his position to gain sexual favors.
Jackson Police Department Chief Lee Vance did not hold back on Thursday when he responded to questions about a sexual and racial discrimination lawsuit brought against his department by a former JPD officer.
Tina Bianchini, a former Jackson Police Department officer who is white, is suing the city of Jackson and city police department officials on a basis of racial discrimination claiming to have been fired after a domestic violence dispute with another officer she was then engaged to. Bianchini allegedly got into a shouting match with her fiance, Aaron Allen, an officer on Yarber’s security detail, and she alleges it turned physical.
Bianchini’s initial affidavit indicates Allen choked her, broke two of her teeth and tried to throw her out a window. Allen said she kicked him in his head and struck him in his arms, chest and neck.
On Tuesday, Bianchini amended her federal complaint filed in June to include sexual discrimination and details about an alleged consensual sexual relationship she claims she had with JPD Commander Tyree Jones, who was her superior.
The filing alleges when Bianchini ended the relationship in December 2014, Jones allegedly “refused to assist Bianchini in landing a position in the Crime Scene Investigations Department, a position he promised her during their consensual relationship.”