State trooper says in lawsuit reassignment was retaliation

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut State Police sergeant says in a lawsuit that state public safety Commissioner James Rovella retaliated against him because the sergeant reported the sexually inappropriate conversation of a colleague.

Sgt. Timothy Begley says in his suit he was reassigned from the state police counterterrorism unit to a midnight patrol shift last March in apparent retribution for his role in filing a complaint with the state Equal Employment Opportunity Office on behalf of a female member of the unit who complained of a colleague’s sexually inappropriate remarks, the Hartford Courant reported Tuesday.

At the time, the officer who made the alleged remarks was a Hartford police officer and Rovella was chief of the Hartford department.

Rovella became the head of the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, which oversees state police, in February 2019. Days later, Begley was reassigned to a shift designed to punish him for reporting Rovella’s employee, according to the suit.

Rovella's aide, Brian Foley, said the department would not comment on a pending lawsuit.

The lawsuit asks the court to reinstate Begley to the counterterrorism unit, restore his security clearance and cover any monetary damages and lost wages.