...Major Jimmy Harper has been the commander of the metro police department’s 6th district. Yesterday he got some good news. An internal investigation cleared him of a sexual harassment complaint filed against him by his ex-wife and fellow officer, Debbi Minniear...Louisville police dept. facing lawsuit from 2 officers over alleged mishandling of sexual harassment complaint
WHAS11 coverage
June 20, 2008
The Louisville metro police department is facing another lawsuit tonight, this time from two of its own officers. The two officers claim the department mishandled a sexual harassment complaint and retaliated against a sergeant who stuck up for a fellow officer. Their attorney says it’s more of the same from the department. This story revolves around the way the Louisville police department handled a sexual harassment complaint filed against Major Jimmy Harper by his ex-wife, a fellow officer. But attorney Tom Clay says the bigger issue is how the police department handles, or mishandles, all of these type complaints by punishing the alleged victims. Major Jimmy Harper has been the commander of the metro police department’s 6th district. Yesterday he got some good news. An internal investigation cleared him of a sexual harassment complaint filed against him by his ex-wife and fellow officer, Debbi Minniear. So the police department clearing major Harper won’t be the end of the story. Today, his ex-wife and her commander sergeant David burns, filed a lawsuit against Harper and the police department: The lawsuit claims Minniear was the victim of a sexually hostile work environment in the sixth district where her ex was the commander. The day after talking with Harper about the text messages, Sgt. Burns claims the major put a counseling statement in his personnel file and was temporarily transferred... Harper has been disciplined before. Twelve years ago he went to a strip club while on duty and in 1992 Harper was fired but got that discipline knocked down to a 29 day suspension. Documents we obtained through the open records act don’t include any record of what he did wrong back in ‘92. [Full article here]
Police, commander sued by sergeant, officer
Louisville Courier-Journal
By Jason Riley jriley@courier-journal.com
June 19, 2008
...The lawsuit, filed in Jefferson Circuit Court, alleges that Maj. Jimmy Harper repeatedly sent inappropriate text messes to Officer Debbie Minniear, his ex-wife, requesting the two have sex and that she send him naked pictures of herself. Minniear, who is remarried, told her supervisor about the text messages but feared retribution from the department and Harper, who had been commander of the division she worked in, so she requested no action be taken, according to the suit. But Burns, who worked in the 6th Division with Minniear and Harper, asked Harper to stop sending inappropriate messages to Minniear, according to the suit. Harper responded by punishing Burns for alleged performance deficiencies, the suit alleges... Earlier this year, Metro government agreed to pay officers Kristina Hagan and Michael Smith a total of $150,000 to settle a suit alleging that other officers sexually harassed Hagan and that Smith faced retaliation for supporting her allegations... [Full article here]
Police commander cleared in investigation
Louisville Courier-Journal
By Sheldon S. Shafer sshafer@courier-journal.com
June 18, 2008
A Louisville Metro Police Department commander has been exonerated of charges of sexual harassment and retaliation in an investigation by the department's professional-standards unit. Maj. Jimmy Harper, who has been commander of the 6th Division, received a letter today from Chief Robert White advising him that he had been cleared in the internal investigation. "There will be no disciplinary action taken and the complaint will be dismissed," White wrote... [Full article here]
I feel the need to comment on this despite it being over three years later because it is something that still is a touchy subject that I still get asked about. As the former stepdaughter of the accuser and the daughter of the accused, I just want to say that the media is not unbiased and reports as to what sells- what you have posted is what the media has said. Gender studies will tell you that people would eat this story up the way they did because of how it was reported. It would not have been consumed the way it was if it was portrayed in an accurate and unbiased manner.
ReplyDeleteThroughout this ordeal that went on, the media steadily only reported the accuser's side of the story because the accused's side was being harassed by the media. At 20 years old, I was getting calls from people claiming to be someone else (when I called them out to be a member of the media, they hung up) and having many of them scream derogatory remarks about my family. My sister was 15 at the time and also getting calls, and my mother, who had been divorced from him for over ten years, was also getting these phone calls.
I'm not downing what you do here- domestic violence is a big issue regardless of profession. But the whole issue posted here is based completely on the media's sway; not on what is fact.
Please consider this in the future. This false accusation (which was proven false in several investigations) almost destroyed my family.
(Also- I am not saying that the media is always inaccurate in these situations nor am I always siding with the police. I'm just stating the other side of this case, from someone who was actually involved.)