Ex-Fort Worth Police Chief Joel Fitzgerald could receive $5M as part of settlement in whistleblower case

By Jason Allen

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    FORT WORTH, Texas (KTVT) — A former police chief could receive more than $5 million from the city of Fort Worth as part of a settlement agreement over a whistleblower lawsuit.

The deal would end the five-year battle with former chief Joel Fitzgerald, just months before the matter was scheduled to go to trial in Dallas.

Fort Worth would also pay two former IT employees as part of the proposed agreement. William Burchett would receive $2.4 million and Ronald Burke would receive $2 million. The settlement details were included in background material for a Tuesday city council meeting where members are scheduled to vote on the agreement.

The city fired Fitzgerald in May 2019. It was the same day Fitzgerald said he was set to meet with FBI investigators over concerns Fort Worth was not in compliance for using the federal Criminal Justice Information Services, and could be leaving it open to a security breach.

Burke and Burchett claimed they had faced retaliation from the city after reporting the database issues to Fitzgerald. In Burke’s case, a Dallas jury awarded him more than $1 million in April.

Fort Worth called Fitzgerald’s claims “absurd” when he first filed his lawsuit. Former Assistant City Manager Jay Chapa wrote that he fired Fitzgerald over a lack of good judgment, and a track record of putting himself before the city.

The Texas Workforce Commission, however, didn’t find evidence of any work-related misconduct in deciding Fitzgerald should receive full unemployment after his firing.

A Dallas judge later ruled the city had to change his discharge from “general,” to “honorable,” after Fitzgerald testified it had resulted in him not being able to find another job.

Fitzgerald later worked in Waterloo, Iowa. In 2022 he took over the top policing position for the transit agency in Denver. He has been on leave from that position since July 1 during an investigation into possible policy violations.

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