DETROIT -- Testimony began Wednesday in a case involving a lawsuit filed by a detective who said he lost his job while investigating a stripper's death, Local 4 reported.
Former Detroit homicide investigator Alvin Bowman's whistleblower lawsuit against the city of Detroit claims he lost his job because he pushed to hard to investigate the murder of Tamara Green.
Green, who was also known as "Strawberry," died in a hail of gunfire in April of 2003 in Detroit, according to the station's reports.
Green was alleged to have danced at a party for Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick at the Manoogian Mansion, but an investigation by Michigan State Police concluded that the party was urban legend, the station reported.
A judge ordered this week that Kilpatrick's name be removed from the lawsuit.
But former homicide investigator Sgt. Marian Stevenson described to the jury Wednesday the information that she discovered about the alleged party at the mansion.
"Some of the people that I talked to stated that Miss Green had danced at the, at a party for the mayor, and she may have had some information regarding the activities that happened that particular night," Stevenson said.
Over time, Stevenson came to the conclusion that someone ordered Green's murder, the station reported.
"The evidence showed that she was shot first, and with all the bullets that came out the car, managed to continue to roll and the passenger got out of the vehicle," Stevenson said. "According to the witnesses, they saw the car that did the shooting make a U-turn and if they wanted the passenger, they could have shot him at that time."
Stevenson said that someone erased her police department computer containing her case notes, and her zip storage files disappeared from a locked file cabinet
She told the courtroom that she did not report the theft to her superiors out of fear for her safety. Stevenson also said that she and her homicide bureau colleagues were concerned that they may lose their jobs if they continued to investigate the case.
Former Deputy Police Chief Cara Best also took the stand on Wednesday. When asked why she transferred Bowman from the homicide division, she said it was because he didn't complete his paperwork properly.
The case continues on Thursday, when Bowman is expected to testify.
No arrests have been made in Green's shooting death.
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