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Disciplinary hearing for Williamstown cop behind lawsuit pushed to next week after new complaints of retaliation

Cars drive on a road in a small New England town.
Josh Landes
/
WAMC
Williamstown, Massachusetts.

An officer in the Williamstown, Massachusetts police department who sued the town last year, alleging racism and sexual harassment, will be the subject of a public disciplinary hearing next week.

In August 2020, Sergeant Scott McGowan sent shockwaves through Williamstown with a lawsuit accusing then-police chief Kyle Johnson of overseeing a department where racism and sexual harassment were tolerated, and where a picture of Hitler hung in a locker for 20 years.

By the end of the year, the controversy led to Johnson’s resignation – followed by that of then-town manager Jason Hoch in February.

“After former Police Chief Kyle Johnson announced that he was leaving, Sergeant McGowan voluntarily dismissed his lawsuit in federal court. And he was really hoping that that could be an opportunity for healing and reconciliation, and kind of move on from issues in the past. But unfortunately, that was not to be," said David Russcol, McGowan’s attorney. “The essence of the charge is that the town has put him on leave and is now in the process of hearing to try and terminate his employment, and that that's retaliatory for his past actions and filing a lawsuit against the town last year.”

A hearing scheduled for Thursday afternoon was moved following an emergency executive session select board meeting in the morning. Now, Russcol’s client is scheduled to appear in a public virtual disciplinary hearing over accusations around his conduct from fellow police officers on October 27th.

“The town got a complaint from some of the officers that had some really outlandish allegations from a long period of time without a ton of specifics," said the attorney. "And the town responded by placing Sergeant McGowan on administrative leave for many months, and eventually convening this hearing. The town did an investigation but didn't give, at least initially, didn't give Sergeant McGowan a lot of notice of what the charges were against him. It appeared to start from McGowan that the investigation was biased in some ways.”

According to anonymous sources in a Berkshire Eagle report in March, the complaint that purports to represent the all of the department’s full-time officers “describes actions by McGowan that were viewed as demeaning and disrespectful by others in the department, leaving some of them afraid or reluctant to work with McGowan. The officers contend in the statement that McGowan created a hostile work environment.”

Russcol says the way the town has pursued the complaint toward McGowan is an example of the bias his client is experiencing.

“There were allegations in Sergeant McGowan's federal lawsuit last year that former chief Johnson had sexually assaulted him in the police station, and had engaged had created a climate of racial hostility, a sexually hostile environment," he told WAMC. "And, you know, when some of the same kinds of allegations are leveled at Sergeant McGowan in the town takes action. But when that was raised against Chief Johnson, nothing happened.”

In a new complaint filed this week with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination, McGowan says the town’s effort to fire him is “retaliation in violation of state and federal antidiscrimination laws and the Massachusetts Whistleblower Act.” The sergeant also claims that the town’s actions are in response to his role in publicizing information about another department scandal in which officers misused the state’s criminal justice database. WAMC first reported in March that members of the Williamstown police department had illegally investigated its critics using the Criminal Justice Information Service, triggering more community outcry as well as an investigation and disciplinary measures.

Williamstown interim town manager Charles Blanchard told WAMC Thursday afternoon that he had no comment on McGowan’s new complaint, and the hearing was rescheduled with all parties in agreement. McGowan has opted for his disciplinary hearing to be public.

Russcol says he expects the hearing to be extensive, and that it could last multiple days.

Josh Landes has been WAMC's Berkshire Bureau Chief since February 2018, following stints at WBGO Newark and WFMU East Orange. A passionate advocate for Western Massachusetts, Landes was raised in Pittsfield and attended Hampshire College in Amherst, receiving his bachelor's in Ethnomusicology and Radio Production. His free time is spent with his cat Harry, experimental electronic music, and exploring the woods.
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