Untitled Document
With no fanfare, Springfield Police
Department’s most colorful crime-fighter quietly cleaned out his desk
and retired this week. Lt. Rickey Davis, well known as a leader of the
Black Guardians and as a plaintiff in two race-discrimination lawsuits, has
been on leave from the SPD since March 7. He declines to say what prompted
him to retire.
“It’s just time, I think,” he says.
He won’t be able to draw his pension
until he turns 50, in July, but another date looming closer on the calendar
may explain his decision: The Black Guardians’ federal civil-rights
lawsuit is scheduled to go to trial in three weeks. Star plaintiff Renatta
Frazier severed her case and settled separately for $650,000 in 2004; six
other plaintiffs have been dismissed from the lawsuit. Of the nine
African-American cops named in the 2003 complaint, only two remain in the
case — retired Lt. Lea Joy and Davis. Asked what he plans to do now that he has retired,
Davis says he must first get through the trial. “The trial will take
a lot of our time,” he says.
And after that? “My options are wide open,” he says.
“It’s time to move on. It’s a new part in my life.
I’ve been a cop since I was 22. I went to the police academy in 1980.
My entire adult life I’ve been a cop.”
Though he may be best known for causing controversy,
Davis is proud of how he did his job. “I solved a lot of homicides in
my career,” he says. “The people know what I’ve done, and I
think they remember, so I don’t want to toot my horn.”
Jury selection in Davis’ lawsuit begins Jan.
22.
Contact Dusty Rhodes at drhodes@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Jan 4-10, 2007.
