DETROIT – A lot of people were upset when they found out Detroit's new police chief, James Craig, would be making $240,000 a year. That's more than the mayor.
But now a new lawsuit alleges the city violated the law and wasted thousands of dollars in its search and hiring of Craig.
Activist Robert Davis has filed the lawsuit against the Detroit Police Commission, saying they wasted valuable money and violated the Open Meetings Act.
"Not only wasted money, but also broke the law. And that's most important," Davis said.
READ: Lawsuit filed over police chief hiring
Davis had obtained emails showing Commissioner Jerome Warfield was highly involved in Craig's hiring.
"The emails show the orchestration between the police commission, Kevyn Orr and the governor's office as it relates to the appointment of the police chief, Mr. James Craig," Davis said.
If true, the hiring process should have been public.
Davis is asking the hire to be voided and that Craig be removed from office.
Davis says Detroiters should be outraged that they paid two search firms to find a candidate that Warfield wanted from the beginning. Davis also says Warfield wasn't open and honest when he said a national search was being conducted to hire the best candidate.
"It was a fixed search, a totally bogus search. You had the chair of the police commission part of this whole entire process," Davis said.
City officials told Local 4 they could not comment on the lawsuit because they had not seen the filing.