A retired police officer was just awarded $1.8 million after it was determined by jury that the police chief discriminated against him for being in the military and because be believed the officer was gay.
50-year-old Kenneth Hagel worked as a Sea Girt police officer and was a member of the U.S. Navy Reserves in Lakehurst, New Jersey for more than 30 years, during which time he was deployed to Kuwait, Guam, and Spain.
NJ.com reports:
The former cop claimed in a lawsuit filed in 2014 that Chief Kevin Davenport falsely believed he was gay and discriminated against him because he was in the military and required to leave his police job periodically for training and overseas deployments.
Hagel filed suit in Monmouth County Superior Court against Davenport, the police department and the borough. The Navy man claimed the chief engaged in a pattern of sexual harassment and discrimination.
For the record: Hagel identifies as straight and is married to a woman. But this didn’t stop Chief Davenport from repeatedly hurling homophobic slurs and abuse at him and refusing to promote him on two separate occasions.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
“The trouble started when Davenport was promoted to sergeant and took over scheduling,” Hagel’s attorney, Matthew A. Peluso, told a court this week.
According to the lawsuit, some of the abuses Davenport is accused of include:
- Making a fake license plate with the words “I’m Gay” and taping it over the rear license plate of Hagel’s car.
- Saying male members of the Navy are gay because “everyone knows what Navy guys are like and do on their ships.”
- Calling Hagel a “handjob” in front of junior officers in an effort to humiliate him.
- Unlawfully accessing national law enforcement databases to conduct illegal searches on Hagel.
- Accusing Hagel of lying about his military service and then having him followed by private investigators.
- Cutting out pictures of Hagel’s face, “drawing a penis going into Mr. Hagel’s mouth and then attaching it to a photo of a scantily clad woman and then placing these photos in different locations in the Sea Girt PD headquarters.”
- Telling officers that Hagel was gay and/or bisexual and having an affair with another male police officer and that the officer was having an affair with Hagel’s wife.
As a result, Hagel claimed he was wrongfully denied a promotion in both 2013 and 2014 due to anti-military and antigay discrimination by Davenport.
He also claimed that because of his boss’ abusive behavior, fellow officers started believing the untrue rumors about him.
This week, a jury determined Davenport had “engaged in egregious conduct against” and found him guilty of discrimination. Hagel was awarded $262,800 in compensatory damages for lost salary and benefits, $500,000 for emotional distress, and $1 million in punitive damages.
Cam
And let me guess, if he actually WAS gay the Jury would have awarded him $10,000 and told him to get over it.
Vince
Yep. The jury members identified with him as a straight man falsely accused of being gay which was the lawyers angle all along. Appeal to their bias and easy peasy. The rest is just background noise. That’s why the gay panic defense used to work so well.
fur_hunter
Whether he is gay or not does not matter. Discrimination of any kind is disgusting and should be punished. I’m glad he won his case.
Kangol2
Also, Davenport appears to be a very sick closet-case, projecting all of his own internal turmoil onto Hagel. The Navy might want to look a bit more closely at him since it sounds like he’s completely flipped his wig.
sfmike64
Wow. That police chief is a twisted closet case. Poor thing. But did the town fire his lazy ass?
batesmotel
Well not to stereotype he doesn’t strike me as someone that’s gay, but regardless of whether he is or isn’t, this is blatant ongoing traumatic harassment and abuse. Seeing that he was awarded a whopping 1.8 million over the harassment shows there is that light at the end of the dark tunnel. Although, if he really was gay, I wonder if the 1.8 million would’ve been that high. I’m just speculating and assuming since we will never know until another similar case like this happens and the guy is actually gay.
kwarnockny
According to LinkedIn Davenport is still the chief at Sea Girt. So he’s cost a small town over $1 million in damages for being an asshole, and he’s still got a job.
Virpilosus
That is appalling, and leads me to ask, “WTF is wrong with the citizens of Sea Girt, and the city administration”?
Libertas Belle
Sounds like Chief Davenport has a crush on Hagel, but is too deep in the closet.
metrobear
I agree. Ole chiefie had a raging closet boner for that guy. No one sane acts that way unless there are some repressed issues going on in their heads.
djmcgamester
Massive case of bullying. I’m glad he sued. Would have been better if he donated some of that money to a LGBT youth organization. That would have been a great way to show that, while he has no issue with anyone’s sexuality, that he still shouldn’t be bullied. Maybe the proceedings can help a gay cop who is there now or one who might be in the future.
GymMan456
Yes, but who is paying for this? Not the police chief, or the dept, maybe it comes in the name of the town, but of course it is tax payers who comes up with the money.
$500 000 for emotional distress !
How much emotional distress would you sign up for to get that?
Being really disliked at the job, but only one person? Does sound like easy money. Yes it gets worse when having to deal with lawyers and not knowing if it will go in.
I just think the money is way too much. Remember this stuff is feeding lawyers who speculate further on how create big compensations.
It is becoming increasingly harder to take that taxpayers are generally not represented in court.