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N.J. Officer Sues Dept. Over Height Harassment

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May 18, 2007 6:43 pm US/Eastern

N.J. Officer Sues Dept. Over Height Harassment

Bayonne Sgt. Says He Was Tormented Because He's Short

by Christine Sloan
BAYONNE, N.J. (CBS) ― A police officer who claims his fellow officers harassed him because of his height and supervisors did nothing to protect him from the harassment has taken the law into his own hands and slapped the department with a lawsuit.

Sgt. Patrick Burns of the Bayonne Police Department said fellow officers at the station tormented him, making fun of him for being short and pinning insulting posters around the headquarters that poked fun at him.

"The Bayonne Police Department is excellent, but there are a few individuals there who have made it their mission to torture Sgt. Pat Burns for reasons unknown to us," said Patrick Toscano, Burns' attorney.

Burns said officers took a picture of Napoleon, who was said to be only 5-foot-2, and superimposed his face on the body of the French emperor. Toscano has filed a notice of tort claim against the City of Bayonne claiming his client, who is 5-foot-3, has been subjected to a hostile work environment since being hired in 1995.

"There's one occasion when he gets to his locker -- there are several dead rats duct taped to his locker," Toscano said.

Bayonne officials, however, said that Burns never brought the allegations up at any other time during his tenure with the police department.

"He's never filed any complaint alleging a hostile work environment, and after 12 years to come up with this allegation now is kind of ridiculous," said Chris Patella, the Bayonne City Attorney. "It's early for us to make a determination. We're denying the allegations at this juncture."

Toscano said Burns has complained though and saved dozens of degrading fliers, some of which are extremely sexually graphic, and "some of which poke fun at his masculinity and manhood."

Burns, who is still employed by the police department, is barred from talking to the media because the department has a policy that forbids officers from speaking to the press, according to Toscano.

As for the Bayonne Police Department, it has filed a counter-suit against Burns, but officials have not disclosed those charges because of confidentiality rules. Those charges apparently have nothing to do with the alleged harassment charges, according to Bayonne officials.

(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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