Posted: Wednesday, August 7, 2013 4:00 pm | Updated: 4:43 pm, Wed Aug 7, 2013.
Posted on August 7, 2013
A Morrisville police officer and his wife are suing the borough and five police officers including the former chief, alleging that he has endured continuous harassment, threats and false accusations designed to discredit him in the community and department.Among the allegations cited in the civil suit filed last week in Bucks County Court, William and Lisa Smith claim that two officers named in the suit improperly provided police information to defendants in Smith’s cases and gave them advice on how to beat the charges.William Smith filed numerous written and verbal complaints with police and borough officials involving the alleged improper and harassing behavior but no action was taken, which created a “hostile work environment,” according to the suit. Smith also alleges police administration abruptly changed his work schedule in retaliation for his filing complaints.
The Courier Times was unsuccessful Wednesday in reaching borough manager Thomas Bates and Council President Nancy Sherlock for comment.
Borough solicitor James Downey, who said he hadn’t seen the lawsuit, said the suit was turned over to the borough’s insurance carrier which is handling the other police-related civil suits. Downey said he didn’t have the name of the insurance carrier or the attorney handling the case.
The suit names recently retired Chief John Jones, Lt. Thomas Herron and officers Christopher and Erica McIntyre and Justin Bickhardt as defendants, along with the borough. It seeks damages in excess of $50,000.
Smith’s lawsuit is the latest involving police personnel, which resulted in the borough’s insurance company last year recommending an independent investigation into the police department. That investigation was finished earlier this year, according to the suit.
Morrisville currently has nine full-time and four part-time officers and it recently hired an interim director of public safety to oversee the department, which has an annual budget of $1.7 million.
The suit contends that the harassment started in 2003 after Smith filed a civil service complaint when he was passed over for a full-time job given to Erica McIntyre, who, like him, was a part-time officer at the time.
Smith said that he and McIntyre both took the physical agility test, a requirement for the full-time position; he passed the test, but McIntyre did not, according to the suit. Erica and Chris McIntyre were hired full time in December 2003. Smith was hired full time in June, 2005.
After he filed the complaint, the suit alleges, Chris McIntyre started making threats against Smith. He says the couple has continued to threaten and harass him, but Jones and then Herron, who took over when Jones retired last December, did nothing to stop the behavior.
Erica McIntyre also filed a report with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging a hostile work environment, according to the suit. The EEOC cannot confirm the existence of complaints, a spokeswoman said.
Smith claims that the McIntyres have confronted him on “numerous” occasions including continuous harassment over the number of arrests and traffic tickets Smith writes. The suit says that Smith writes 1,200 to 1,800 traffic tickets annually as well as 50 to 100 police reports a month, the most in the department, according to the suit.
In July 2012, Smith alleges, he told Herron that Chris McIntyre printed out a report on an arrest Smith made and gave it to the criminal defendant and he also gave the defendant advice on how to “falsely incriminate” Smith in court, according to the suit.
After reporting the incident to Jones, the suit says, Smith was notified two weeks later that he was being taken off day shift and placed on night duty working 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. When Chris McIntyre complained that he didn’t want to work part of his shift with Smith, Herron and Jones created a “separate” 1 to 9 p.m. shift for him, the suit alleges.
The suit mentions the Cornerstone Consulting Services investigation into the police department; after Smith hired a lawyer in the spring of 2012 he learned that the police department was going to be investigated by a third-party. That investigation took place between May 2012 and last spring of this year and reportedly details a decade’s worth of police department activities.
The Courier Times was unsuccessful Wednesday in reaching borough manager Thomas Bates and Council President Nancy Sherlock for comment.
Borough solicitor James Downey, who said he hadn’t seen the lawsuit, said the suit was turned over to the borough’s insurance carrier which is handling the other police-related civil suits. Downey said he didn’t have the name of the insurance carrier or the attorney handling the case.
The suit names recently retired Chief John Jones, Lt. Thomas Herron and officers Christopher and Erica McIntyre and Justin Bickhardt as defendants, along with the borough. It seeks damages in excess of $50,000.
Smith’s lawsuit is the latest involving police personnel, which resulted in the borough’s insurance company last year recommending an independent investigation into the police department. That investigation was finished earlier this year, according to the suit.
Morrisville currently has nine full-time and four part-time officers and it recently hired an interim director of public safety to oversee the department, which has an annual budget of $1.7 million.
The suit contends that the harassment started in 2003 after Smith filed a civil service complaint when he was passed over for a full-time job given to Erica McIntyre, who, like him, was a part-time officer at the time.
Smith said that he and McIntyre both took the physical agility test, a requirement for the full-time position; he passed the test, but McIntyre did not, according to the suit. Erica and Chris McIntyre were hired full time in December 2003. Smith was hired full time in June, 2005.
After he filed the complaint, the suit alleges, Chris McIntyre started making threats against Smith. He says the couple has continued to threaten and harass him, but Jones and then Herron, who took over when Jones retired last December, did nothing to stop the behavior.
Erica McIntyre also filed a report with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging a hostile work environment, according to the suit. The EEOC cannot confirm the existence of complaints, a spokeswoman said.
Smith claims that the McIntyres have confronted him on “numerous” occasions including continuous harassment over the number of arrests and traffic tickets Smith writes. The suit says that Smith writes 1,200 to 1,800 traffic tickets annually as well as 50 to 100 police reports a month, the most in the department, according to the suit.
In July 2012, Smith alleges, he told Herron that Chris McIntyre printed out a report on an arrest Smith made and gave it to the criminal defendant and he also gave the defendant advice on how to “falsely incriminate” Smith in court, according to the suit.
After reporting the incident to Jones, the suit says, Smith was notified two weeks later that he was being taken off day shift and placed on night duty working 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. When Chris McIntyre complained that he didn’t want to work part of his shift with Smith, Herron and Jones created a “separate” 1 to 9 p.m. shift for him, the suit alleges.
The suit mentions the Cornerstone Consulting Services investigation into the police department; after Smith hired a lawyer in the spring of 2012 he learned that the police department was going to be investigated by a third-party. That investigation took place between May 2012 and last spring of this year and reportedly details a decade’s worth of police department activities.
37 comments:
I think they should have included additional graphics indicating where Morrisville is in relation to the entire Earth, the Solar System, the Milky Way Galaxy, and the Universe.
If this is just the first in the $#!tstorm, people are going to be able to find Morrisville very easily. It would be across the river from the city with the smaller police problem.
Officer Smith.... This is the same officer who was fired from Middletown police, sued them and other officers there as well, and lost. The same officer who called an African American woman Aunt Jemima in court and had the borough sued and lost. I'm sure there is much more to this story!!
Sounds great. To protect and to serve.Yeah, right.
And yet the teacher's union is the recipient of a steady stream of vitriol?
Are we getting our money's worth from an outfit Barney Fife would laugh his nightstick off at? These guys are heavily armed. What a frickin comfort that is.
If these lawsuits are true and it is this bad there. Why have our elected officials not reviewed the 3200 page investigative report the insurance company demanded. Why did it take our insurance company's threats to drop us if we didn't investigate for our elected officials to look into this mess?
Our good officers deserve better, our bad officers deserve to be fired, or worse. And our elected officials need to answer so very hard questions!
i agree borough officials need to do their jobs better and read through the issues and have very frank discussions on whats next and proper. stop the political BS, nobody wants to hear it and get to work whether you are on your way out or not finish your reign with dignity and honor and do the right thing
It was a radioactive hot potato they didn't want to land in their laps? Guess what, it did anyway. Now one of the lamest mayors and her obstructionist do nothing cohorts end up looking good by looking less bad (but don't let it go to your heads, you still blow). Get it together people!!!
From what we have been reading, this has been going on for a long time. If what the officer stated in his lawsuit, he filed written and verbal complaints with no investigation by the parties he reported to. Why would they ignore the complaints? They should have at least responding in writing to his complaints. I find it interesting that our solicitor did not bother to read the lawsuit that was filed against our borough. Instead he forwards it to the insurance company. I guess it was too much to ask of him to read the lawsuit and advise our elected officials of its content. Instead, the two that I spoke to this morning stated that they found out about the lawsuit in the paper!
"Why did it take our insurance company's threats to drop us if we didn't investigate for our elected officials to look into this mess?"
This is an outright lie! (but it sounds good so use it)
The borough was told to have the investigation. The insurance company did NOT threaten to drop the borough.
I get that you are on a mission, but don't make it up as you go along. You are doing a disservice to the Morrisville community.
I like how you are posting in several names and how you are blaming the current council who is taking care what has been happening in the police department yet you say nothing about your friend Jane and her her hand in things.
I have known about the police investigation since 2011. It has been talked about at council meetings. Three people on council have continually publicly opposed the investigation. All along I have thought how odd it is that they would not want the investigation. Someone on here keeps complaining about council and the investigation, but they don't say anything at all about the three people who oppose it. I assumed that this person is political friends with the three, so I haven't given much of what this multi-named blogger has said.
Non of us know if the complaints were ignored or if they were handled as they should be. It sounds administrative to me. I would assume it is regular business for lawsuits to get forwarded to the insurance company, but I have no actual knowledge about this. Just seems like what would happen. A lot of assumptions were made a couple of posts above. I don't know why the solicitor didn't read the complaint. It may be normal for it to get forwarded to the insurance company. I agree with the post above. Spreading miss-information is never good. Please stop. It makes all of us look bad.
On another note, council should never have to hear about something like this in the newspaper. I spoke with a councilperson today who also said he heard about Officer Smith's suit by reading it on phillyburbs.com this morning.
"Non"? Sorry, "none"
The purpose of a solicitor is to advise the government regarding legal matters. Why should we pay him an hourly rate to send the lawsuit to another attorney? How can he advise our government if he did not read the lawsuit. It is practice to forward the lawsuit to the insurance company. It is also common practice to READ the lawsuit, so that our elected officials have some idea what they are dealing with. It should not be that hard to figure that out. If we have officers suing each other, does that not create a safety issued within the department?
If everybody is a genius all of a sudden, why are we in the toilet?
Today, Dairy Queen is celebrating Miracle Treat Day with even more magic.
Today, Thursday August 8th, 2013, $1 or more* from every Blizzard® Treat purchased at the Morrisville Dairy Queen will be donated to Children's Miracle Network Hospitals.
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Isn't the borough solicitor from the same firm the school board used to have? If he wasn't/isn't/didn't do his job on council well I can see why the school board got rid of the firm if its any representation of that firm and how they work. Didn't he used to work for the borough and who brought him back?
When a solicitor is appointed, it's really the firm that is being hired, not any particular person within the firm. Mr. Downey's firm is currently the solicitor for the borough and for the MMA, which is a conflict of interest in my opinion.
The current solicitor's firm was the borough's firm for many years under Jane Burger and George Mount. When Mrs. Burger was done on council, so was the firm. The firm that was then hired was one of the best in PA, (look them up), Friedman & Shuman. (forgive the spelling. I remember the name but have no idea of the spelling.) And they were even less expensive.
It was Victor Cicero who led the vote to replace F&S with the former, Downey's firm. What a big mistake. I was disappointed at this move by Mr. Cicero in the wrong direction. I had thought our town was going to get somewhere positive.
Since then, I have also been disappointed with Mr. Cicero in not voting for the initial funding for the borough wide project. It seems like this project would have been completed or almost completed by now if Mr. Cicero hadn't changed his mind and voted with the rest of the obstructionists on council the first time around.
Mr. Cicero bullied the people running against him for his council seat to withdraw, then sured up his election by working with Jack Buckman to get himself written in on the Rep side as well.
Most recently, he voted to put Jane Burger back on the MMA for another five years.
Lordy, sorry for the rant. It's times like these that I realize I need to stop paying so much attention and take up a new hobby.
A Cage Match is starting to sound like a good idea.
Lets have Hellmans school board face the police in a game of who can be a better liar. I feel safe with these people running our town.
Checked with several officers
They have filed complaints about harassment, hostile work environment, threats, missing evidence and entry into secure areas without permission.
These complaints were filed with the lieutenant, the former chief and members of council. Tom Bates told the Lieutenant and several members of the police department NOT to file complaints with the Mayor as she no longer has any say in the police department.
I received this information from several officers who confirmed it. Recently (after the council realized what they were doing to the Mayor was illegal) the Mayor was given access to the police department. The Mayor and several council members still have been refused access to the investigative report. Officers are now being encouraged to file complaints with the Mayor in hope that SOMETHING will get done.
Good luck!
I'm still pushing for the inbred yokel cable reality series.
"The Old and the Sleazy"
"Swamps of Mo'ville"
"MPD Blue"
"Better than Trenton"
"He Said She Said and I Don't Believe Either One of You"???
"family member" you know you are telling everyone lies but just keep typing. So disgusted with that post.
What prompted the investigation that there were so many complaints by members of the police department. Anyone who pays attention knows this. It has been said in public enough times.
Complaints DO NOT get filed with Borough Council.
Tom Bates is NOT in charge of the police dept and he does not possess the ability to ever tell them what they can and cannot do.
It is ridiculous to try to plant a seed of separating the mayor from the police department and blaming Bates for it. It's the normal chain of command that police complaints/grievances go to Chief, then the mayor. That has not changed. It is normal procedure.
Council wasn't doing anything to the mayor. (Very bizarre wording.) Council never denied the mayor access to the police department. Council never denied the mayor of anything. The mayor chose to not take control of any situation she was having with either the police dept or the borough office, then whined several years later about not having any control. Council has no control over the mayor.
Your whole post doesn't make any sense. Nice agenda though.
Damn I cannot stand SOC'ers!!. Such lying sacks of deviousness and ignorance.
Don't take my word for it. Stop by the police station and asked the Lieutenant for yourself. A group of us did. He's afraid of retaliation but when pushed he admitted it. Don't believe the Lieutenant, ask the officers. THEN come back on here and apologize. Your right, the council SHOULD NOT have stepped in between the police department and the Mayor. Yet, they did! You can deny it all you want, but that is the way it is. Ask them yourself, unless you are afraid of the truth...or you one of the council members involved in the interference and want to dirty the water.
Either, way the truth is coming out.
From your previous post, you said you already talked to the police and already confirmed your information.
Shame on you Deb, Bob, firefighter...oh family member. A group made up of Kitty, Jane, Debbie and who else... I do not believe anything you say and no amount of twisting will make what you say correct. What you say just doesn't make sense. So you want us to believe that you questioned an officer about an ongoing investigation / complaints and were given the answers you wanted. I doubt that you actually did any of what you say and I doubt that anyone would have talked to you even if you had (which you did not). Then you end with your post by pointing yet another finger. LOL
No, I'm not on council, I'm just not willing to allow someone campaigning to make it up as they go along in hopes that some of it will stick even though they know they are full of it.
I am not your target audience. I know what your agenda is.
Kind of funny. I hadn't even thought of that. You wouldn't have to confirm information you said you already confirmed. Family member even I have had enough of you and your tactics.
We stopped BEFORE we posted this. Gee, really, everything has to be spelled out for you. Of course the officers will talk! They have filed complaints for years with no response, then an investigation was conducted with thousands of pages of information that no one in the borough was permitted to read! You bet they will talk, they want the public to get involved because the elected officials refuse to do their job. So please, go to the borough hall, speak with the officers, then return to this page and type what you have learned. It should not be that difficult for you.
I don't know who any of you are.
family member, you are a fan of Rita Ledger's obviously, which I am not. You have an agenda, which I do not appreciate. I don't have enough credible information to form an opinion as to what's going on and neither does anyone else. BTW getting information from the officers who are under investigation is not retaining credible information. I have no interest in officers pointing fingers at one another or at anyone else because it's all hearsay. I'm willing to allow the proper authorities to produce results without pointing my finger in the meantime because I have no agenda. I want things to move forward, not backwards.
Was this officer off duty or were you gabbing with this officer on my dime?
wow I have had enough of all of this stuff. Grow up everyone.
On another topic, today I found out that there will not be a Labor Day Picnic in Morrisville this year.
What, no baby races? I knew they should've given Mayor Ledger that special bank account for her "stuff".
so...let me get this straight. First you deny it is happening...then you say the officers won't talk....now you say they were gabbing...the truth is out...why are you having such a hard time dealing with it. Wait, maybe because you are one of the one's that caused this mess! Now it makes sense...
HAHAHA I doubt that Jane Burger is a blogger.
HAHAHA I doubt that Jane Burger is a blogger.
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