Stuttering Ohio Officer Sues City for Discrimination

Jan. 2, 2013
Monroe Police Officer Ken Parson is claiming verbal abuse by multiple supervisors.

MONROE, Ohio -- A Monroe police officer is suing the city and seven employees for more than $2.5 million on claims he was discriminated against because of his stuttering.

Officer Ken Parson is claiming verbal abuse by multiple supervisors, including being the subject of jokes, and one incident where he claims an officer threw a pen at the back of his head during roll call. The act, according to the lawsuit, received laughter by fellow officers and supervisors as opposed to discipline. Parson also claims to have been denied privileges afforded to other officers, including opportunities for overtime and peer recognition.

Parson filed the lawsuit earlier this month in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati claiming the city violated the Americans with Disabilities and Family Medical Leave acts, said Parson's attorney John Scaccia. He said the city has not allowed him "to rise to his fullest ability."

"It's giving the guy an opportunity he should have had from the very beginning," Scaccia said of the lawsuit. "We shouldn't be discriminating against a person's imperfections."

R. Gary Winters, the attorney for the city of Monroe, denies the allegations and has until Feb. 13 to file the city's response to the complaint.

"We believe the case has no merit and we will defend it fully on behalf of the city, the city manager and police officers," Winters said.

The seven-claim complaint names City Manager Bill Brock, police Chief Greg Homer, police Lt. Brian Curlis, police Lt. Frank Robinson, police officers Doug Liest and Alicia Beacock, and police Sgt. Dave Chasteen, along with the city of Monroe and "all other Jane or John Does" as defendants. The suit alleges that some or all of those named: discriminated against Parson's disability, invaded his privacy, caused emotional distress, created a hostile work environment, violated the Family Medical Leave Act, and/or retaliated against him when he "asserted his rights."

The suit demands the city pay wages, benefits, more than $500,000 in compensatory and more than $2 million exemplary damages, as well as be reinstated as a police officer and receive a promotion.

Monday was Parson's last day on the job before his Family Medical Leave Act time -- which he took because his stuttering has deteriorated due to the alleged mistreatment -- apparently expires, but Scaccia said the city could have afforded him additional time.

Parson was on FMLA leave beginning in July. He was placed on disability by his doctor "who was concerned not only about the speed of speech deterioration and the high level of cruelty Ken received in the work place, but about the danger he was continuously placed into (by) his superiors" after being removed as a detective -- which Winters said is a rotating assignment and not a permanent duty -- and moved him to a road officer where "his stuttering placed him in greater than normal risk of physical harm," according to the suit.

Winters, however, said a Dec. 14 letter from Parson's doctor claims "he was totally and permanently disabled from being a police officer."

But Parson disputes that, telling The Middletown Journal the letter was pertaining just to the patrol officer assignment.

"That's what I had discussed with him," Parson said. "Any light duty work is what I could do."

Light duty work, Parson said, includes being the property room officer, conducting breath analysis, conducting interviews or being the lie detector test operator.

"There are a myriad of things I could do but that would require the cooperation of management, which I haven't gotten," he said.

Parson was assigned to the detective section from 2007, after a doctor suggested that being a patrol officer could be hazardous given his stuttering, until June 2011 when he was reassigned to the road patrol. The transfer was announced in January 2011 but Parson attempted to fight it, according to the suit.

Parson, who said he has had his speech impediment since he was a child, was hired as a Monroe police officer in March 2001. He said he was able to mask the stuttering by pausing when he felt he was about to stutter.

However, in the fall of 2007 his impediment began to "deteriorate," according to the suit. The condition worsened, Scaccia said, because of the harassment and mistreatment by colleagues and supervisors.

In a May 2010 Middletown Journal article, Parson said he was able to be in more control of his stuttering after receiving therapy, which he called a blessing.

According to the May 2010 article, Parson was able to obtain a confession in a gang rape case of a 12-year-old Lemon Twp. girl.

"It's never easy for anyone to deal with their imperfections," Scaccia said. "But he's used it as a tool. He was able to get into places most detectives would have a difficult time getting into."

Copyright 2012 - Dayton Daily News, Ohio

McClatchy-Tribune News Service

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