Ex-Bethlehem officer sues city, alleges sex and race-based discrimination
A former Bethlehem police officer is suing the city and several city employees, alleging she was discriminated against and unfairly fired.
Tina Vu, an Allentown resident, is suing for unspecified damages over what she and her lawyers call “unlawful and invidious employment discrimination” based on her sex, race and religion.
Vu, who was employed as a Bethlehem police office between June 2020 and October 2021, filed a civil complaint Aug. 28 that names police Chief Michelle Kott, Deputy Chief Scot Meixell and several other senior police officers as well as the city’s human resources director, the city itself and the city’s police department.
Vu’s lawsuit alleges the police department has “a reputation in the community of being a hostile work environment for minorities.” Vu is female, Vietnamese and Buddhist.
Per the complaint, Vu was the only police officer of Asian descent and one of only 10 female officers at the time she was hired.
The complaint alleges that Meixell made several “misogynistic” comments in front of Vu in June 2020, including his belief that women are not as physically capable as men to serve as police officers and that the number of women serving as officers in Bethlehem must be limited because of their “deficiencies.”
At the center of the complaint however, is an an altercation Vu responded to while on night patrol, which the complaint says sparked the unjust disciplinary action that led to her firing.
According to the complaint, Vu and another officer were emergency dispatched to a “crowd riot/melee” outside of Molly’s Bar and Grille on East Fourth Street around 2 a.m. Sept. 26, 2021. There was a large, chaotic crowd of women gathered around the bar, and several people told officers that two men had been in a fight.
Vu and another officer approached the two men, and the officer asked Vu to apprehend one of them while he arrested the other.
Vu believed she heard someone in the crowd yell, “He has a knife!” Based on that belief, Vu “momentarily” pointed her handgun at one of the men, but upon realizing he did not have a knife in his hand, she reholstered her gun and drew a Taser.
After a foot chase, the two men were
apprehended by Vu and other officers. The complaint said two other responding officers complimented her for her conduct during that incident.
But despite that positive feedback, Vu was brought into Meixell’s office several weeks later and questioned about why she didn’t file a police report right away and why there were alleged discrepancies in her report, the complaint says.
According to the complaint, she had been in the middle of filing a report immediately after the incident, but was instructed to return to street patrol and finish the report later.
One of the alleged discrepancies included the fact that Vu did not note that she momentarily drew her handgun in her initial, unfinished report, but did make note of this in the final report. Senior police officers in that meeting questioned why she said “Ooo” after drawing her gun, which can be heard on Vu’s body camera footage, and why she did not take several actions including transporting the suspect to the hospital and not placing the suspect in handcuffs.
According to the complaint, the suspect refused medical treatment, and a senior officer instructed her not to handcuff him while transporting him to police custody.
Following the meeting, Bethlehem police placed Vu on the Northampton County “Giglio” list, a mandatory legal disclosure of any police officer considered not credible that must be disclosed if the officer is to testify in court.
Then they fired her, per the complaint.
The complaint alleges that the aftermath of the bar fight was an attempt to find inconsistencies for the “pretextual” purpose of firing Vu. Specifically, it says that Vu learned via “sources” in the department that police leaders opened a file on Vu as soon as she was hired “for the purpose of compiling a list of minor, de minimis procedural violations or other pretextual excuses to be used to justify terminating her employment as a police officer.”
It also alleges a double standard wherein white, male officers who violate laws and policies are not fired or punished. An officer who was arrested for driving under the influence was allegedly not fired, and an officer who failed to intervene in a fight between a civilian and two other officers also was not disciplined, Vu’s complaint states.
The civil complaint requests an unspecified amount of monetary damages. It alleges Vu has suffered “embarrassment,” “mental anguish,” “vomiting,” “panic attacks,” “hypertension” and other physical aliments as a result of losing her job. It says Vu was wrongfully denied health insurance for herself and her 5-year-old son.
The civil complaint also asks that Vu be immediately reinstated to her job.
Vu’s attorney, Dennis Charles of Allentown, did not return a phone message requesting comment. A spokesperson for Bethlehem’s legal department also did not return a message requesting comment.
The city hired lawyers David J. Macmain and Laurie Ann Fiore to represent them.
The city has yet to file a response to Vu’s suit. The defendants all submitted “waivers of the service of summons” in late September, which means they voluntarily entered the lawsuit without requiring the plaintiff to serve them a summons. It also extends the amount of time defendants have to respond to the complaint — the city’s deadline is Nov. 28.