Jury awards $3M to LAPD officer who claimed sexual harassment, retaliation
A Los Angeles jury on Wednesday awarded $3 million to a female police officer who claimed she was sexually harassed by a supervisor and subsequently monitored after she complained about it. The weeklong trial ended with a 12-0 verdict after the jury deliberated for only an hour, the Los Angeles Times reports.
LAPD Officer Linda Allsot claimed another officer, who is now retired, sexually harassed her with inappropriate comments and gestures from 2013 to 2014, CBS Los Angeles reports. The alleged harassment included invitations to Lake Havasu and Cabo San Lucas. Allsot claimed that when she told the department head about the alleged harassment, she was put under the surveillance of undercover officers.
An attorney for Allstot, who still works for the department, said she would now be going to work "looking over her shoulder." "You break that code of silence, you're going to be subject to retaliation," attorney Gregory W. Smith told jurors.
Deputy City Attorney Susan Kim told jurors Allstot lacked witnesses and documentation of the alleged retaliation, adding that what Allstot was looking for was "compensation for hurt feelings."
A spokesman for the city attorney's office told the Los Angeles Times the agency was reviewing whether to appeal and other options.
According to City News Service, Allsot is married to LAPD Capt. Rolando Solano, an officer who was at the scene of the 1991 beating of Rodney King. He did not participate in the attack nor was he charged with a crime.
