The city has agreed to pay a former female officer a $1 million settlement and for her to drop the lawsuit and release all claims against all parties.
A former Brentwood city police officer filed a police sexual assault lawsuit against former Lt. Salvatore DiMercurio. The female officer claimed that the lieutenant raped and sexually assaulted her while they were both attending a training conference in Reno, Nevada in 2017.
The suit also included the city’s police department and administration for covering up the crime and turning a blind eye to sexual harassment in the workplace. According to the documents, the female officer reported the assault to higher ranking officers and that only a supervisory inquiry was initiated by Chief Hansen and Chief Tolero, instead of an internal affairs investigation. Hansen and Tolero were DiMercurio’s friends in the department’s administration. The suit also noted that Tolero’s inquiry of the incident was devised to corroborate DiMercurio’s statement that any contact between them was consensual. It also claimed that Tolero intended to protect the city and that the female officer would be promoted if she were to agree with their statements.
Two more women came forward with claims against DiMercurio after the initial lawsuit. One of them, also a former police officer, claimed that he retaliated against her when she rejected sexual advances from him. The other claimant, according to court records, asserted that he sexually assaulted her approximately 20 years prior.
DiMercurio left the police force within two days after the lawsuit was filed.
