City officials have said that the ongoing investigation into Baltimore Police Deputy Commissioner Brian Nadeau is not related to his job overseeing the department’s internal affairs division.

But Nadeau’s leadership has been the subject of multiple lawsuits over the years – including a previously unreported lawsuit from the city’s former Acting Chief of Police Accountability, who says Nadeau pressured her to reduce discipline against high-ranking officers during her first weeks on the job.

Aeiramique “Meeka” Glass first raised the claim in a September 2025 lawsuit against the city over her termination from the role, which she says was retaliation for refusing to acquiesce to Nadeau’s request and other disagreements with city leaders during her brief tenure.

In a revised complaint filed last month in federal court, Glass claims that Nadeau approached her and pressured her to instruct the Administrative Charging Committee (ACC) to retract disciplinary charges against high-ranking police officers. The committee reviews complaints against police officers that involve the public and determines disciplinary outcomes for the officers.

“[Glass] was approached by the Deputy Commissioner of Internal Affairs [Nadeau] and pressured to instruct the ACC to retract disciplinary charges against high-ranking police officers. Needless to say, such requested actions would be far outside h[er] official duties. . . After independently reviewing the case files, [she] refused to participate in this misconduct and affirmatively supported the ACC’s decision to maintain the charges,” the lawsuit charges.

Glass declined to name the officers involved in Nadeau’s alleged request. But in details provided exclusively to The Brew, she confirmed that she personally reviewed the case files, brought the matter up with the ACC and let Nadeau know that they would not be retracting the charges against the officers.

She said she thought that would be the end of it, but Nadeau raised the issue again in front of members of his command staff when Glass first visited the department’s Public Integrity Bureau.

“I then had to tell him the policy he was trying to apply was not correct in the context of the situation with the high-ranking officers he wanted the retraction of charges for,” Glass said. “He disagreed with me, and we went back and forth.”

• Aeiramique Glass v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, Mayor Brandon Scott and Dana Moore – 8/11/26 amended complaint.

Nadeau, one of two deputy commissioners in the Baltimore Police Department, had his police powers suspended earlier this month amid an ongoing investigation.

City leaders have declined to describe the nature of the investigation except to say that it did not involve his work supervising internal affairs investigations. The Maryland State Police are investigating.

In addition to the alleged attempt by Nadeau to thwart disciplinary charges, Glass says that she uncovered “significant irregularities in staffing and budgeting” within the Police Accountability Division (PAD).

“Although the PAD was budgeted for 17 staff positions, only approximately five were actually dedicated to the Division. The remaining PAB-funded lines were improperly diverted to other uses,” the lawsuit says.

When she brought up her concerns with both Mayor Brandon Scott’s office and the Office of Equity and Civil Rights, “I believe I was retaliated against for whistleblowing [and] faced political retaliation.”

The mayor’s office and BPD declined today to comment on the charges, citing pending litigation. Nadeau could not be reached.

Recruited from California

Glass joined the city’s Office of Equity and Civil Rights as deputy chief of the Police Accountability Division in November 2023, moving from San Diego, where she had served as chair of the San Diego Chief of Police Board of Advisors, to Baltimore.

Within days, the sitting chief, who helped recruit her, resigned, and Glass took over as acting chief of police accountability, according to her lawsuit, with assurances from the Scott administration that the role would be made permanent once she completed her six-month probationary period.

After the early incident with Nadeau, Glass began advocating for the Police Accountability Board and ACC to receive independent legal counsel, she said.

“There were, I believe, only two cases where the ACC and Integrity Bureau were in disagreement, but I knew there would be more,” she told The Brew.

The independence of Baltimore’s civilian police oversight bodies has been a persistent point of contention.

Opponents of the current system argue there are inherent conflicts of interest because the board is staffed by the Office of Equity and Civil Rights, whose top officers are appointed by the mayor, and receives legal advice from the city Law Department. The latter is responsible for defending the city when police officers get sued.

Glass said she advocated for the Police Accountability Board and Administrative Charging Committee to be assigned independent counsel “to ensure impartiality and compliance with best practices for police accountability.”

The U.S. Department of Justice, which is involved in implementing the Baltimore Police Department’s consent decree, supported Glass’s recommendation at the time, according to her complaint.

She said Dana Moore, then director of the Office of Equity and Civil Rights, was displeased that Glass had communicated with the DOJ and “categorically refused” to allow the PAB and ACC to receive independent counsel.

“Moore’s refusal directly undermined the independence and integrity of the accountability process, placed [Glass] at odds with OECR leadership and marked the beginning of a retaliatory campaign against [her],” the complaint states.

When Glass raised concerns about the diversion of staff at the Police Accountability Division, OECR leadership struck back, leading to, among other things, her denial of access to the city’s information technology (IT) systems. Moore did not respond to a request for comment.

Fired, Then Reinstated

Moore abruptly fired Glass on January 31, 2024. Glass requested reinstatement, informing the Scott administration that she was a cancer survivor who needed insurance coverage for her medical care.

“I am deeply concerned about the systemic issues within the Office of Equity and Civil Rights, affecting not only myself but also my team and staff members who are being harmed and impacted by the toxic leadership,” Glass wrote in her letter.

Glass was reinstated with back pay a month later, according to her lawsuit, but kept on paid administrative leave. The Police Accountability Board wrote to Mayor Scott requesting Glass’s reinstatement to the police accountability role, but she was never returned to that job.

In the months that followed, Glass appeared at a press conference where PAB leadership called for greater independence and was seen speaking with Scott’s Democratic Primary primary opponent, Sheila Dixon, at the polls, according to her lawsuit.

At the end of June, Glass was terminated for a second time.

Her initial lawsuit over her firing was dismissed by a judge in May. She was permitted to refile her complaint, and did so in August. The city has again asked for the suit to be dismissed.

Glass has had challenges in her current job as Interim Independent Police Monitor in Madison, Wisconsin.

She got into a physical confrontation with police officers as the officers dismantled a protest encampment set up following the July fatal shooting of a 38-year-old Black man, Corey Ruiz.

One of the police officers involved in the scuffle later obtained a restraining order against Glass.

• Madeleine O’Neill is a freelance reporter in Baltimore. You can securely contact her at moneill28@proton.me or on Signal at maddioneill.24.