Guice files EEOC complaint against Bunkie P.D.

Zach Guice -- a former Bunkie police officer, police chief candidate and assistant chief -- has filed a federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint against the city.

Guice claims that in the almost eight months he served as assistant chief, he was subjected to discrimination due to his race and his handicap status as a disabled veteran.

FIRED IN 2016
Guice was fired as a full-time police officer in January 2016 because he did not have all of the certifications required by the city’s liability insurance carrier.

Four part-time officers were fired at the same time for the same reason.

At the time, the insurance company said the five officers were “uninsurable” because they did not have the state-required certifications.

Council members blamed Police Chief Bobby Corner for inattentiveness and not reminding the officers of the certifications needed.

When Corner refused to recommend the terminations, the council did so on its own.

Council members emphasized their action had nothing to do with the officers’ actions while employed by the city.

2018 ELECTION

Guice ran for police chief in 2018 and finished third, behind the incumbent Corner and the eventual winner Scott Ferguson. Guice endorsed Ferguson in the general election and Ferguson named him assistant chief when he took office on July 1, 2018.

However, Guice resigned from the department on Feb. 25.

A copy of the EEOC complaint was not made available for this article. However, Guice said it contains points he made in his resignation letter, only in more detail. A copy of Guice’s resignation letter was posted in an online Facebook group site.

In that letter, Guice said the conditions at Bunkie P.D. “impede my overall goal to improve the quality of service to this town with community-oriented policing.”

He said it was “with great regret that I have been pushed to this decision, but I think it is the best for the town.”

Guice said actions directed at him “violate my Constitutional rights and are very troubling, to the point that I am offended.”

Many of the actions were aimed at his status as a disabled veteran, he said.

“The mere fact that I have disabled veteran tags on my vehicle has sparked a fire,” he wrote in his letter. “My service and loyalty to this country and this department should have never been questioned.”

He is currently a full-time police officer in Simmesport and works part-time with the Lecompte, Cottonport and Moreauville police departments.

{Editor’s Note: This article reports on the filing of an EEOC claim of a plaintiff against a former employer. That complaint includes only the allegations of one party against another. It does not give both sides of a case and is not proof that the allegations made are correct and true. The truth of the allegations will be determined by the EEOC.}