Stratford calls former officer’s claim of religious discrimination ‘preposterous’

STRATFORD — Police brass disciplined a Jewish cop in 2019 not because of his faith, but because he had a history of discipline problems during a “checkered” work history, the town said in a legal filing asking a judge to throw out a lawsuit filed by the former officer.

The town’s arguments were made in response to a religious discrimination suit filed last summer by Maxwell Bernstein, who resigned from the force in March 2022 after nearly eight years on the job.

The town asked a judge to throw the case out of court “because no rational jury could find that the Town of Stratford discriminated against the Plaintiff based on his religion, nor could it find that Stratford retaliated against him for having filed his initial CHRO complaint alleging religious discrimination.”

“The Plaintiff’s claims are simply preposterous,” Raymond J. Rigat, a lawyer representing the town, wrote in a memorandum in support of a motion for summary judgment.

In a statement Thursday, Bernstein said, “The wheels of justice turn slowly, but I look forward to using this intensive process to finally hold those responsible accountable.”

“This arena is one of the few avenues available to be made whole from the treatment I experienced,” he said.

In the lawsuit, Bernstein, who was the subject of five internal affairs investigations during his time with the department, did not allege any overtly antisemitic acts, but said he was treated harsher than others because of his faith.

But the town said Bernstein was disciplined justifiably, citing more than 700 pages of evidence, including prior internal investigations and statements made by residents, as well as Bernstein’s fellow officers and supervisors in support of what it called Bernstein’s “difficult” and “checkered” work history.

That history, the town said in the filing, included Bernstein berating a fellow officer and almost drawing his weapon on a pizza parlor owner in separate 2015 incidents, not calling EMS when a driver he stopped challenged him to “shoot him in the head” in 2016, drawing his gun and pointing it at the chest of an unarmed domestic violence suspect in 2017, an “emotional outburst” during a 2019 roll call, and acting rudely toward a woman who called 911 in 2021 because her son had harmed himself.

Bernstein cited the 2019 incident in his lawsuit, saying he raised questions regarding an anonymous noise complaint and was “berated” by a lieutenant, who “began yelling and personally attacking” the officer.

In the town’s version of events, Bernstein slammed a counter with his fists and argued loudly with a superior in front of other officers before he “grudgingly investigated” the noise complaint.

“While it is true that the Plaintiff had been the subject of five separate Internal Affairs investigations from 2015 to 2022, none of these investigations and resultant discipline had anything to to with the Plaintiff ’s religious affiliation,” Rigat wrote in his filing, which also referenced a twoyear “last chance” agreement Bernstein signed in 2015, while he was still a probationary officer and had two internal affairs complaints against him.

Bernstein, in his lawsuit, cited other misconduct by officers that he said wasn’t punished as severely as his own – including one officer who had his service weapon stolen from his private vehicle. However, the town said that was because those officers were not “similarly situated” to Bernsein.

“Firstly, no other officer disciplined … had the same number of Internal Affairs investigations which resulting in discipline or counseling as the Plaintiff,” the town said. “Secondly, no other officer was blatantly insubordinate to a superior at roll call in front of several other officers.”

Bernstein said Thursday more evidence will come out to support his case.