‘Can’t Shoot Black People Anymore’: White California Deputy Complained About Not Being Able to Gun Down African Americans, Lawsuit Says
A Black former deputy sheriff who was continually denied promotions over 22 years is suing Sonoma County, alleging that the mostly white leadership in its sheriff’s office kept him from advancing due to racism, and that the California county’s new Black sheriff has a longstanding grudge against him. Marcus Holton, 53, says he was turned down for promotions and special assignments 13 times despite having deep experience as a field training officer, firearms instructor, and SWAT team member, and consistently outstanding performance reviews. His lawsuit, filed on Dec. 12 in Sonoma County Superior Court (and obtained by Atlanta Black Star) asserts that Holton was forced to retire in April 2025 due to intolerable and hostile working conditions and “blatant, sickening racism” that left him demoralized. A Sonoma County Sheriff's Office patrol car. (Photo: Sonoma Sheriff Facebook Page) The lawsuit claims that a “good old boys club” culture pervades the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office, where some officers espouse white supremacist ideology, engage in racial profiling and often use excessive force against Black and other minority residents. And it argues that systemic racism and racial bias among its predominantly white leadership explain why Holton hasn’t advanced. Holton’s experience of alleged racism included being called “lazy” by a white male sergeant who repeatedly denied his routine requests for time off, requests regularly granted to white officers. That sergeant was investigated in 2019 for using racial slurs with trainees, including referring to a Black male captain as the sheriff’s “porch monkey.” In summer 2020, Sonoma County saw multiple public protests following the killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minnesota. When Holton arrived at work after a weekend of such protests, he found a sign in the briefing room that read “Mama, Mama, I can’t breathe” propped against the wall. The sign “appeared to have been confiscated from a protestor by a member of the Sheriff’s Office, and then placed in the briefing room as some sort of trophy,” the lawsuit says. Holton was angered by the sign, which he felt had been placed in the briefing room “to convey a message about or to” him. It remained there for nearly two weeks as shift briefings were held and attended by command staff, who failed to remove the sign, reprimand the party who had put it there, or “counsel personnel about its inappropriate nature and racist undertones.” Holton says he frequently heard racially offensive statements in meetings. His superiors often would then immediately tell him, “I’m directing you to not be offended” while standing over him. These statements would single him out, separating and isolating him from the rest of the group, the complaint says. In 2021, Holton applied to be a tactical flight officer in the helicopter unit, whose work includes rescuing people from cliff faces, ravines, swift water and ocean surf regions using a long-line method. He had training as an EMT, had worked as a firefighter, and had served the Sheriff’s Office for 17 years in many capacities, the complaint says. The sheriff helicopter pilot, who had a big role in deciding who was selected, allegedly told Holton that “Black people can’t swim,” citing “science” and “cellular matter” to support his racist statement, the complaint says. A white man received the position. Holton, a triathlete who had completed an event that included an open water swim, was offended by the “overtly discriminatory justification for passing up a qualified candidate.” In March of 2025, Holton claims that during an instructor training presentation, a deputy said, “You can’t shoot Black people anymore.” An internal investigation of the deputy’s comment “went nowhere,” the lawsuit says, because no one in the office was really bothered by it. Two years after Sheriff Eddie Engram was elected as the county’s first Black sheriff in 2023, Holton decided to ask him why he was always passed over for promotions. From 2003 to 2025, Holton applied seven times for open sergeant positions, the next rank up from deputy sheriff, but never once received a promotion, while less experienced and qualified white men were promoted, including several that he had trained, the complaint contends.Over the last decade, he also applied six times for various specialty assignments, such as working in the Sheriff’s Office helicopter unit, and was denied each time, while less qualified white male applicants were selected. Such assignments are important to promotional prospects, the lawsuit says, allowing officers to gain skills and experience that boost their qualifications. Denied those opportunities, Holton was stuck on a lower rung in the patrol bureau for most of his career, despite shouldering increasing responsibilities. In 2017, he earned the Sheriff’s Office Silver Medal of Valor after he and a trainee evacuated 72 developmentally disabled patients from a treatment center during a raging fire in Nuns Canyon. He was on duty for more than 24 hours straight on the first day of the fire, the complaint says. In his performance evaluation report for that period, he received a rating of “Exceeds Standards.” His supervisor noted that he had received a letter of appreciation for his community-oriented policing efforts from a neighborhood watch group in northwest Petaluma. In their 2017 annual report, an independent county law enforcement watchdog agency noted that the Sonoma Sheriff’s Office employed 234 sworn officers, of whom 87 percent were white, 9.5 percent Hispanic or Latino, and 1.3 percent were African American. The agency noted those numbers were disproportionate to the Sonoma County population, which was 64 percent white, 28 percent Hispanic or Latino, 4 percent Asian and 3 percent Black. That year, Holton twice applied for open use-of-force instructor positions. He had been a firearms instructor for eleven years by that point, and was highly qualified for the position, the complaint says. He was denied with no explanation provided, while white men were selected instead. Engram had longstanding animosity toward Holton, the lawsuit claims, based on his refusal to support then-Deputy Engram’s pursuit of a racially related claim in 2012, which Holton says he knew nothing about and wasn’t willing to “come up with something” just because they were both Black men. Engram never forgot or forgave him, and allegedly used his position of power to retaliate against Holton. In their conversation on March 25, 2025, Engram said his review of Holton’s file indicated that he got nervous and performed poorly during interviews. Engram said “everyone agreed” that Holton’s interview skills were weak. His attorneys now argue that Holton “in fact was accustomed to testifying in court hundreds of times over his career, including as the lead investigator in complex investigations.” He was also adept at instructing other law enforcement personnel “with ease,” an assertion supported by high ratings he received from deputy trainees and in evaluations by his supervisors. On April 16, 2025, after he got a call from his captain that he’d been passed over yet again for a sergeant position, Holton pulled into the parking lot of a shopping center, parked, and began to cry. He “felt hopeless and helpless,” believed he would never get a promotion no matter how experienced or qualified he was, and resigned soon afterwards. The lawsuit accuses Sonoma County of racial discrimination, racial harassment and retaliation in violation of California law. Holton seeks a jury trial to determine unspecified financial damages and compensation for emotional distress, anxiety and depression. “Mr. Holton is the ultimate example of someone who earned an opportunity,” his attorney, Jon King, told The Press Democrat, “but that opportunity never, ever came during Mr. Holton’s 22 years of service to the county and its residents. The jury will decide why.” While “unable to comment on active litigation,” Sgt. Juan Valencia, a spokesperson, said, “the Sheriff’s Office and the county take all allegations of discrimination very seriously.” Sonoma County has 30 days after being served with the complaint to file a response.
