By Maria Cramer
Boston Globe
BOSTON — Two Boston police officers have filed a lawsuit against the city and department officials, alleging they suffered harassment, retaliation, and discrimination because they are female and “perceived to be gay.”
Veteran Officers Laura Delaney and Paula Sutherland allege that colleagues used slurs against them on the street and in the roll call room and threatened them.
In a 17-page lawsuit filed in Suffolk Superior Court, the women allege that one uniformed officer from the motorcycle unit threatened them after they told him to move his vehicle. He allegedly said, “You ladies may have won this battle, but I’ll get you.”
When they complained to a captain, he responded, “Are you two on the same time of the month?” according to the suit.
The women, who worked as partners for three years, said that in September 2005, their captain told them that senior officials were upset with them after a confrontation they had with a Sharon police chief.
The women said they were told by a captain that senior officials did not like women riding together, and soon after, they were separated and sent to other districts.
The women complained to then-Commissioner Kathleen O’Toole, and soon after, Delaney said, she found a folded note on her doorstep that read, “Shut up take the transfer better than dead.”
Sutherland recently returned to the department after being out for 2 1/2 years on injured leave. Delaney has been on injured leave since November 2005. Their lawyer, Barbara Macy, declined to comment.
City Attorney William Sinnott said officials were served a copy of the lawsuit on Wednesday.
“We’ve only just received the case, and we are reviewing it and studying it,” he said. “We withhold any comment on it at this time.”
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