{"id":2982,"date":"2012-11-02T15:25:38","date_gmt":"2012-11-02T19:25:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=2982"},"modified":"2012-11-02T15:25:38","modified_gmt":"2012-11-02T19:25:38","slug":"lawsuit-police-sustained-abusive-sexist-environment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/?p=2982","title":{"rendered":"Lawsuit: Police sustained abusive, sexist environment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Coatesville officer alleges discrimination, invasion of privacy<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

By Kathleen Brady Shea<\/span><\/strong>, Managing Editor, The Times<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

A lawsuit filed by Coatesville Police Officer Amy W. Nicholl accuses the city of allegedly maintaining a hostile work environment that discriminated against women.<\/p><\/div>\n

A sex-discrimination lawsuit filed by a female officer continues a spate of police litigation in Coatesville.<\/p>\n

Filed\u00a0 Oct. 12 in federal court , the suit by Officer Amy W. Nicholl alleges that she was a victim of sexual harassment and bias ever since joining the department in March 2008. The suit followed a vote less than a week earlier by\u00a0City Council to transfer about $2.25 million from Coatesville\u2019s trust fund, in part to meet skyrocketing legal expenses.<\/p>\n

The suit describes a prurient, hostile work environment and includes salacious allegations against more than half a dozen male colleagues. It names four defendants: the City of Coatesville and three of Nicholl\u2019s supervisors, all of whom took an early-retirement option this past spring. They are former Chief Julius M. Canale, Lt. Rita Shesko, and Det. Gerald Pawling.<\/p>\n

Joseph J. Santarone Jr. said he is representing the city and reviewing the complaint to determine whether the other defendants will need separate counsel.\u00a0 \u201cUnfortunately, I can\u2019t comment until that is sorted out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

City Manager Kirby Hudson also had no comment on the suit but said he was optimistic that the leading candidate in the search for a new police chief would be hired and begin taking steps to reduce litigation. \u201cWe\u2019ve been an easy target,\u201d said Hudson. \u201cThat\u2019s got to stop.\u201d So far this year, the city has paid nearly $1 million in legal fees and settlements, mostly police-related.<\/p>\n

Stephen I. Baer, who represents Shesko, declined comment. \u00a0Robert J. Donatoni, who represents Canale, and Daniel R. Bush, the attorney for Pawling, did not return telephone calls.<\/p>\n

Much of the suit focuses on the Aug. 19, 2011, seizure of Nicholl\u2019s Evo 4G, a cellphone that Nicholl bought but used for work; therefore, the city paid her monthly bill, the suit said. \u00a0The phone’s confiscation \u00a0escalated into a court battle involving allegations of unlawful seizure, sexual impropriety, blackmail, falsified court documents, and evidence-tampering. In late March, the Attorney General\u2019s Office \u00a0began an investigation into possible criminal activity, a probe that is continuing.<\/p>\n

According to court records, the dispute began Aug. 11, 2011, when Nicholl complained that a group of male officers had suggested that she was appointed to a court liaison job because she was sleeping with Lt. Chris McEvoy, a married superior.\u00a0 The suit said Nicholl\u2019s complaint about the remarks was overshadowed by investigators\u2019 interest in her relationship with McEvoy, a consensual affair that the city did not prohibit.<\/p>\n

The suit said Nicholl, who is represented by the Sidkoff, Pincus and Green law firm in Philadelphia, was threatened by Shesko to relinquish her cellphone, which contained inappropriate messages from Canale,\u00a0 Pawling, and others as well as photos and videos, \u201csome of which showed plaintiff in revealing and compromising positions.\u201d After the \u201cunlawful search and seizure\u201d of the phone, the suit said Pawling used false information to obtain a sealed search warrant.<\/p>\n

Nicholl, one of three females in the department at the time, was interviewed by Christopher P. Gerber, Coatesville\u2019s labor counsel, on Sept. 28, 2011, and Nov. 16, the suit said. \u00a0Gerber did not return voice or email messages seeking comment.\u00a0 During the interviews, Gerber allegedly \u201cattempted to force\u201d Nicholl to admit falsely that McEvoy \u201chad threatened or abused her,\u201d the suit said. It also alleged that Gerber showed Nicholl \u201csexually-explicit text messages\u201d between her and McEvoy on a large-screen television in view of other officers\u2019 passing by in the hall.<\/p>\n

After a Chester County judge ordered the cellphone returned to Nicholl a year ago, \u00a0Nicholl \u201cdiscovered that the phones\u2019 contents had been significantly compromised and tampered with,\u201d the suit said. During a June 9 hearing, Shesko testified that Pawling, who had custody of the phone\u2019s SIM card, told her he lost it; Pawling asserted his Fifth Amendment privilege.<\/p>\n

In addition to the cellphone allegations, the suit includes details about alleged sexual advances from colleagues that Nicholl rebuffed as well as sexual incidents involving her superiors. Of the latter, the suit said Nicholl acquiesced twice, \u201cfearing that her promised promotion\u201d to Pawling\u2019s position as a detective in the department\u2019s child abuse\/sex crimes division \u00a0\u201cwould be jeopardized if she refused to comply.\u201d<\/p>\n

The suit includes suggestive texts and emails Nicholl received from male colleagues, including supervisors. It alleges that one supervisor used police computers to frequent a dating website \u201cmarketed to married people looking to cheat on their spouses,\u201d activity that prompted lascivious discussion in the department.<\/p>\n

In addition, the suit said the same supervisor \u201cengaged in sexual acts with a woman in the police station while other male officers of the CPD acted as look-outs\u201d so he would not get caught. \u00a0The suit said that none of the behavior alleged by Nicholl resulted in the discipline of any officers and that \u201cclear sexual misconduct involving male officers\u201d occurred with impunity.\u00a0 For example, \u201cafter Canale found an open condom wrapper in one of the city\u2019s undercover police vehicles, neither the CPD nor the city conducted an investigation,\u201d the suit said.<\/p>\n

McEvoy has been on paid administrative leave for more than a year. Nicholl returned to work Oct. 1, after months on disability. The suit said she was so distraught by the city\u2019s actions that she \u201ccontemplated taking her own life on or about Aug. 22, 2011,\u201d received psychological treatment, and was cleared to resume her job months before the city allowed her to return. Since then, she has been ostracized and subject to random drug and alcohol testing, the suit said.<\/p>\n

The suit is seeking compensatory as well as punitive damages for the city\u2019s alleged conduct, which included causing Nicholl pain and suffering, invasion of privacy, and damage to her reputation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Coatesville officer alleges discrimination, invasion of privacy By Kathleen Brady Shea, Managing Editor, The Times A sex-discrimination lawsuit filed by a female officer continues a spate of police litigation in Coatesville. Filed\u00a0 Oct. 12 in federal court , the suit by Officer Amy W. Nicholl alleges that she was a victim of sexual harassment and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2985,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[554,668,792,24,1071,1074,1072,1070,1073,1069,1076,1068,1075],"class_list":["post-2982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-amy-w-nicholl","tag-chief-julius-m-canale","tag-city-manager-kirby-hudson","tag-coatesville","tag-daniel-r-bush","tag-det-gerald-pawling","tag-joseph-j-santarone-jr","tag-lt-chris-mcevoy","tag-lt-rita-shesko","tag-pincus-green-law-firm","tag-robert-j-donatoni","tag-sidkoff","tag-stephen-i-baer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coatesvilletimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}