Two New Lawsuits Filed Against Meriden Police Chief

Meriden Police Chief Jeffry Cossette was served with two new lawsuits Wednesday night filed by one former and one current officer, who each accuse Cossette of invasion of privacy, among other grievances. 

Current Meriden officer Donald Huston says in his suit that Cossette damaged Huston's reputation when he allegedly "recklessly released information" about a 2007 reprimand for a hunting accident from his personnel file in an April 8 interview with the Record-Journal newspaper. That information, Huston's lawyers say, should have been removed from his file after two years and would not have available under a Freedom of Information request.

The article was part of a Connecticut media maelstrom that has surrounded the Meriden Police since Huston and fellow officer Brian Sullivan with the city on April 1, stating that the Chief dispensed discipline unfairly, and protected his own son, Evan Cossette, from punishment for claims of police brutality. In the same week, three men arrested by the younger Cossette in 2010 and 2011 notified the city that they intended to sue the department for what they say was Cossette's excess use of force in handling them. The two officers and men arrested are all represented by the same lawyer - Sally Roberts of Peter Upton and Associates in New Britain.

The chief has continually denied these claims, saying in an April 1 e-mail to Meriden Patch that Huston and Sullivan's allegations were retribution for recent discipline handed out to each of them for excessive use of force and an off-duty (DUI) arrest, respectively, adding "I am confident that any inquiry will reveal a fair and equitable rendering of discipline within the Meriden Police Department." Cossette could not be reached for comment on this story.

Police union president Lt. Pat Gaynor said the union has sent separate disparate treatment grievances filed by Huston and Sullivan to the state labor board. Still, the body's executive board for the most part supports the chief. "We believe that overall, the management is fair and gives fair discipline," Gaynor said.

Former 11-year Meriden Police officer John Neron, who is also represented by Roberts, filed the other suit Wednesday night against Jeffry Cossette and also named William Glass, a manager at Cheshire grocery distributor Bozzuto's. Neron resigned from the force in 2008 following disciplinary action by the department.

Neron claims in his complaint that after taking a job with Bozzuto's, on April 22, 2009 Jeffry Cossette revealed to Glass, his manager there, that Neron had been forced to resign from the department due to a domestic violence arrest, dereliction of duty complaints and a number of rules violations and internal affairs investigations. 

Neron says that this information made him a "target of investigation" at the wholesaler, and that he suffered "injury to his reputation, economic losses and severe emotional distress," according to the complaint. It also alleges that the information moved Glass to write in Neron's personnel file "I feel if Neron was willing to misrepresent the truth about his past...that he is willing to misrepresent the truth about other incidents occurring within and around Bozzuto's," for stating that he had retired from the police force.  

On Monday, an appeals court upheld a March 8, 2010 summary judgement against Neron in a previous lawsuit Neron filed against Cossette for employment discrimination. The suit claimed that Cossette violated Neron's First Amendment right to free speech. It alleges that internal affairs began investigations on and punished the Latino officer after he filed a complaint with the Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities in 2006 alleging minorities employed by the Meriden Police “have endured a pervasive history of discriminatory activity and conduct against them,” according to Roberts. 

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the 2010 ruling in favor of Cossette saying that Neron could not prove that the three internal investigations and two suspensions were tied to the complaint, with one investigation predating the complaint, and another being initiated because of claims from a private citizen.

The court also found that the suspensions were not unduly harsh, "given the circumstances of each offense, Neron’s recidivism, and his false statements at the disciplinary hearings."

The two new suits bring the total number of lawsuits or statements of intent to file suit against Cossette by the Upton law firm to five.