Former Pasadena Police Chief Says His Discipline Recommendation for Ex-Sergeant Was Altered After He Left

Former Pasadena Police Chief Jerry Wright says a disciplinary record he personally filed against a department sergeant was changed after he left his post.

Wright told KPRC 2 News in a phone interview that he authenticated a document obtained by the station and confirmed that a separate version later released by the Pasadena Police Department in response to a public records request does not match what he submitted.

Wright said he personally filed a recommendation on March 7, 2025, calling for an indefinite suspension for then-Sgt. Michael Palitz. The version of that same document later provided by the department, he said, shows a 30-day suspension instead.

"My document indicated clearly an indefinite suspension for the individual and what I saw was it altered to reflect 30-day suspension," Wright said. "Without question, that was not the document that I submitted."

KPRC 2 News contacted the Pasadena Police Department on August 14 asking whether the records tied to Palitz were "ever altered, modified, replaced, or otherwise changed." The department did not respond by the station's 3:30 p.m. deadline that day.

The discrepancy Wright is now raising involves a disciplinary matter separate from the case that ultimately ended Palitz's law enforcement career. That second, more recent investigation centers on the city's Flock Safety license plate reader system and surfaced after Wright was no longer chief.

Pasadena City Council Member Emmanuel Guerrero told KPRC 2 News he believes Palitz used the department's Flock camera network to track a fellow officer. "Based on what we gathered, [he] was using our camera system, our Flock system, to track and stalk a female officer," Guerrero said. KPRC 2 News has not independently verified the specifics of Guerrero's account, and the police department has not released details of that investigation publicly.

Palitz resigned from the department amid that inquiry and surrendered his license with the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, the state agency that oversees licensing and professional standards for officers. A permanent surrender bars him from holding or obtaining a TCOLE-issued law enforcement license anywhere in Texas, meaning he cannot return to policing in the state. It is not the same as a criminal conviction, and no charges against Palitz have been reported in connection with the Flock camera allegations. Palitz's attorney has previously declined to comment on the investigation or the license surrender.

The records dispute Wright is now describing predates that resignation and points to an earlier round of discipline that, according to Wright, was softened somewhere in the department's paperwork after he departed as chief. He said there is no ambiguity about what he originally wrote and submitted through the city's civil service process.

Civil service records like disciplinary recommendations are typically used to document an officer's conduct history and can factor into future personnel decisions, including whether an officer faces further discipline or termination for repeated violations. In Texas civil service terms, an indefinite suspension amounts to termination. A change from that to a 30-day suspension would mean the original violation was treated as far less serious on paper than Wright says he intended.

The Pasadena Police Department has not said who altered the document, when it happened, or why. Its silence after the station's inquiry leaves open whether the discrepancy was a clerical mistake, an internal reversal of the original discipline through some other process, or something else.

Council Member Guerrero has already pushed for more transparency from the department over its handling of the Flock camera matter, telling KPRC 2 News last month that the public deserved a fuller accounting of what happened with Palitz. Wright's account gives council members and the public a second, separate set of questions about how the department documented and disclosed Palitz's disciplinary history over more than a year.

KPRC 2 News has not reported any criminal allegations tied to the altered document itself. Pasadena police have not said whether they plan to address Wright's claims or explain the difference between the two versions of the record.