By Ben Solis
Gongwer News Service
A trooper with the Department of State Police has joined others suing the state’s law enforcement agency over alleged retaliation related to the fallout of an internal affairs investigation at the Flint outpost.
The complaint in Minchella v. Department of State Police (COC Docket No. 24-000124) alleges the plaintiff was retaliated against for reporting unlawful behavior by former Sergeant Jared Chiros, being placed on a blackball list by former post commander Yvonne Brantley, who is also a named defendant in the lawsuit.
Minchella alleges similar claims as Neilson v. State Police (COC Docket No. 24-000049), where another trooper with various commendations, had applied for a sergeant position but was essentially blackballed by supervisory staff after he reported that a trooper had engaged in a high-speed chase without turning on his overhead lights, which would have triggered the activation of the car’s dash camera. In this case, it did not. Chiros was alleged to have continued harassment of the Neilson plaintiff when he got the job.
In Minchella, the plaintiff alleges that he directly filed a complaint against Chiros when he learned that the former sergeant had sent another male deputy an unsolicited photo of his genitalia. Chiros was then reported to the department’s Internal Affairs section for investigation.
Shortly after reporting Chiros, the plaintiff in Minchella was placed on what is known as a Brady-Giglio list, kept at the Genesee Prosecutor’s Office, which contains names of officers who have “sustained incidents of untruthfulness or lack of candor placing their credibility into question and requiring that said information be disclosed to the criminal defendant.”
“Placement on such a list makes it virtually impossible to act as a law enforcement officer within the jurisdiction as prosecutors will frequently decline to pursue criminal charges filed by the officers on the list and will avoid calling officers on the list as witnesses,” the complaint said.
It was later found that Brantley reported to the chief assistant prosecuting attorney that the plaintiff and other troopers had lied during the Chiros investigation and that everyone who participated was placed on the list.
The plaintiff was moved away from Secure Cities Partnership field patrol work in Genesee County to Shiawassee County as a result, and the department’s actions constitute violations of his right to avoid free speech retaliation, due process and the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act.
Brantley was also accused of defamation, false light invasion of privacy, and that the department’s and her actions resulted in damages for the plaintiff in Minchella.
The Minchella plaintiff, like the plaintiff in Neilson, is seeking $25,000 for those damages.
Neither Brantley nor Chiros work for the department following the outcome of the investigation reported in February.
Gongwer News Service
A trooper with the Department of State Police has joined others suing the state’s law enforcement agency over alleged retaliation related to the fallout of an internal affairs investigation at the Flint outpost.
The complaint in Minchella v. Department of State Police (COC Docket No. 24-000124) alleges the plaintiff was retaliated against for reporting unlawful behavior by former Sergeant Jared Chiros, being placed on a blackball list by former post commander Yvonne Brantley, who is also a named defendant in the lawsuit.
Minchella alleges similar claims as Neilson v. State Police (COC Docket No. 24-000049), where another trooper with various commendations, had applied for a sergeant position but was essentially blackballed by supervisory staff after he reported that a trooper had engaged in a high-speed chase without turning on his overhead lights, which would have triggered the activation of the car’s dash camera. In this case, it did not. Chiros was alleged to have continued harassment of the Neilson plaintiff when he got the job.
In Minchella, the plaintiff alleges that he directly filed a complaint against Chiros when he learned that the former sergeant had sent another male deputy an unsolicited photo of his genitalia. Chiros was then reported to the department’s Internal Affairs section for investigation.
Shortly after reporting Chiros, the plaintiff in Minchella was placed on what is known as a Brady-Giglio list, kept at the Genesee Prosecutor’s Office, which contains names of officers who have “sustained incidents of untruthfulness or lack of candor placing their credibility into question and requiring that said information be disclosed to the criminal defendant.”
“Placement on such a list makes it virtually impossible to act as a law enforcement officer within the jurisdiction as prosecutors will frequently decline to pursue criminal charges filed by the officers on the list and will avoid calling officers on the list as witnesses,” the complaint said.
It was later found that Brantley reported to the chief assistant prosecuting attorney that the plaintiff and other troopers had lied during the Chiros investigation and that everyone who participated was placed on the list.
The plaintiff was moved away from Secure Cities Partnership field patrol work in Genesee County to Shiawassee County as a result, and the department’s actions constitute violations of his right to avoid free speech retaliation, due process and the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act.
Brantley was also accused of defamation, false light invasion of privacy, and that the department’s and her actions resulted in damages for the plaintiff in Minchella.
The Minchella plaintiff, like the plaintiff in Neilson, is seeking $25,000 for those damages.
Neither Brantley nor Chiros work for the department following the outcome of the investigation reported in February.
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