Capitol Police officer who responded to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack and has overseen multiple units sued the agency on Wednesday, alleging that she was passed over for a promotion as part of a push to eliminate racial and gender diversity on the force. The officer, Carneysha Mendoza, a Black woman and Army veteran, said in a complaint filed in Federal District Court in Washington that the Capitol Police are “engaged in an effort to reverse diversity, equity and inclusion gains and eliminate diversity in leadership within the department.” Her lawsuit is the latest in a string of discrimination allegations in recent years against the department, which has paid out nearly $1 million since 2022 to settle employment claims, according to public reports and court records reviewed by The New York Times. Mendoza, who has served with the Capitol Police for 24 years and held supervisory roles in four of its six bureaus, was passed over for the role of deputy chief, as well as three assistant chief positions.
Two of those roles were awarded to officers who had been reprimanded for serious disciplinary infractions, according to her complaint, including a white male officer who was disciplined for “serious offenses including drunk driving” on the job and overtime fraud. Mendoza testified before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack that she had come into work early that day and “jumped on line” with her co-workers to hold off crowds of rioters pressing their way into the Capitol, sustaining chemical burns to her face. In the complaint on Wednesday, she said the current Capitol Police chief, Michael G.
Sullivan, who assumed office in June 2025, had disbanded the department’s office of equity and inclusion that August. He later sent a facilities employee “to collect and destroy all” materials created by the office, including some materials she kept in her office. The Times analysis shows that the Capitol Police have paid out nearly $1 million since 2022 for claims filed under the law that provides employment protections to legislative employees.
A spokesman for the Capitol Police, Tim Barber, declined on Wednesday to comment on Ms. Mendoza’s case or the other discrimination claims brought against the department by employees. The suit comes as the department has struggled to hire and retain staff.
Sullivan told lawmakers during a March budget hearing that staffing shortages “span all operational units.” The force has requested a budget of more than $1 billion for the coming fiscal year, a 20 percent increase. Last year in another case, a Washington jury found that a Black female officer had been removed from a K-9 training program because of her gender — even as her male counterparts were improperly advanced after they failed to identify explosive materials during examinations. A jury awarded her damages of $850,000, though the amount was ultimately lowered to $300,000 to comply with a statutory limit.
In that case, the officer, Mauricia VanMeter, was removed from a training program for poor performance, though video footage of training exercises and certification examinations showed that she had performed better than some of her male counterparts, according to court transcripts. Kenneth Hill, the Capitol Police K-9 trainer, testified that one of Ms. VanMeter’s male counterparts in the program should have been disqualified after he made multiple mistakes during a certification exam meant to demonstrate the ability to work with a dog to detect explosive devices or chemicals.
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