Rutland Mayor Christopher Louras has called for a special joint meeting Thursday to bring local leaders up to speed on a 2013 civil suit involving the city that alleges racial profiling and cover-ups among former and current members of the Rutland City Police Department.
The mayor called together the Rutland Board of Aldermen, the city’s attorney and police commission, the panel that oversees the city's police department.
The ugly allegations first came to light two years ago when former Rutland City Police Officer Andrew Todd filed a wrongful termination and hostile workplace lawsuit against the city, top members of the police department and police commission, and two fellow officers he alleged were engaged in racial profiling.
Former Public Safety Commissioner Thomas Tremblay, who’d been hired by the Rutland Police Department to do an independent internal affairs investigation into Todd's complaints, was also named in the suit.
Todd, who is African-American, says in court documents that in his nearly nine years with the Rutland City police, he endured a racially hostile work environment. When he complained to supervisors, Todd alleges that not only did they fail to act, but that they retaliated against him forcing him to leave the department in 2012.
Todd is now a Vermont state trooper.
Sharon Davis, a long time member of the Rutland City Board of Aldermen, says while she was aware of the case, new details that have emerged from court depositions have been deeply disturbing and she says its angered many in the city all over again.
“I was furious,” says Davis. “I read in the paper that several officers, who are no longer employed by the city, are making these statements. But I have to at least ask, ‘Are they factual? Was there a formal complaint and if so was there action taken?’ And those questions I will ask Thursday night,” says Davis.
While the original lawsuit included a laundry list of defendants - only the city of Rutland remains a target of the suit, something Davis finds puzzling.
"The fact that we're six days out from potentially hiring a new police chief to come into the city of Rutland and having him come in to this cloud is concerning." - David Allaire, Rutland City Board of Aldermen
Fellow Board of Aldermen member David Allaire agrees, and says the fact that new details from the case are only emerging now is frustrating.
“It’s concerning for a lot of reasons,” says Allaire. “Certainly one of the main ones is the info not coming to the Board of Aldermen, but more importantly not going out to the residents of the city. And the fact that we’re six days out from potentially hiring a new police chief to come into the city of Rutland and having him come in to this cloud is concerning.”
Rutland Mayor Christopher Louras, who was not named in the lawsuit, points out that many of the details of the case have been made public in past news reports — including on VPR.
He says the two officers accused of racial profiling and other misconduct no longer work for the department and he’s confident that recent news reports will not affect the city’s efforts to find a new police chief.
Louras would not comment on particulars of the lawsuit, but says he felt it was important to hold a joint meeting to bring city officials up to date on where the case stands.
Because the issues concern pending litigation against the city, Louras says the meeting will be closed to the public.
No date has been set, but the case is expected to go to trial this fall.
