City Drops Case Against Tulsa Principal

NewsOn6.com

TULSA, Oklahoma -- The case against a Tulsa principal who was arrested for allegedly interfering with police has been dismissed, her attorney said Tuesday.

Lynette Dixon's attorney, Richard O'Carroll, said the city dismissed the case Tuesday.  Details of the dismissal were not immediately available.

Dixon was charged with obstruction of justice after her arrest on March 7, 2011, at the Comanche Park Apartments. 

She was later suspended from her job as principal at Hawthorne Community School.

"This has taken it's toll on her and unless she's put back in her building where she's performed excellently for the last eight years, nothing else will do," O'Carroll said.

O'Carroll asked for the case to be dismissed after a hearing last week.  During the hearing, he read an email from Tulsa Schools Police Chief Gary Rudick in which Rudick strongly encouraged Dixon's prosecution and conviction.

In the email, written one day after Dixon's arrest, Rudick wrote "we want to fire this woman, so your case is important to us."

Rudick has been placed on administrative leave without pay.

The Tulsa branch of the NAACP has called for Rudick's immediate firing.

4/22/2011 Related Story: Tulsa NAACP Demands 'Immediate Firing' Of Tulsa School Police Chief

Tulsa Superintendent Dr. Keith Ballard has said no one knew of the email until it was made public last week.  Ballard, who has been busy with the district's Project Schoolhouse initiative, said he plans to investigate Rudick.