Posted on Sat, Feb. 14, 2009
Lawsuit: State police lieutenant harassed because he wouldn’t snoop for boss
By DANA DiFILIPPO
Philadelphia Daily News
difilid@phillynews.com 215-854-5934
A Pennsylvania State Police lieutenant contends that he was repeatedly transferred and harassed after he refused a superior’s order to use police computers to snoop on the new beau of the superior’s estranged wife.
Lt. Rodney Witherite filed a federal lawsuit earlier this month in Scranton against the superior, Maj. John Duignan, former State Police Commissioner Col. Jeffrey Miller and eight other top officials.
Witherite claims he has endured more than two years of phony internal investigations against him that began after he refused Duignan’s fall 2006 request to run computer checks on his wife’s boyfriend.
The harassment worsened, according to the lawsuit, after Witherite asked a police supervisor at a union meeting last year why higher-ups who misbehave face lighter or no punishment than troopers who transgress.
Officials stripped Witherite of his gun and badge without explanation, even though they allowed other troopers under investigation for wrongdoing, including one accused of rape, to keep their guns and badges, attorney Don Bailey alleged in the federal complaint.
Witherite’s mistreatment was part of a pattern in which state police bigwigs use internal investigations to bully subordinates, Bailey claimed.
“They allow the abuse of police officers who report matters of public concern,” said Bailey, who also has filed similar complaints on behalf of other state troopers.
Col. Lynette Quinn, a state police spokeswoman, declined to comment, saying she couldn’t talk about pending litigation.
Miller, who now works as the NFL’s director of strategic security, and Duignan couldn’t be reached for comment.
Witherite further alleged that officials targeted him for harassment because he is a union representative and close friend of the union president, who has filed grievances about Witherite’s mistreatment.
In early 2007, Witherite was involuntarily transferred to the Hazleton barracks, where he faced more harassment from officials friendly with Duignan, according to the lawsuit. Witherite later was involuntarily transferred to the Harrisburg barracks, according to the lawsuit.
