Bristol Police Department. Photo: Google

An Hispanic police officer has sued the city of Bristol and its police chief, Brian Gould, alleging fellow officers and supervisors disciplined, harassed and retaliated against him because of his ethnicity.

In his federal lawsuit filed Tuesday afternoon in Connecticut, Adam Quinn alleges colleagues scrutinized his work, and Internal Affairs repeatedly falsely investigated him solely because he is a minority officer in an overwhelmingly white police department.

News outlets reported officers arrested Quinn in 2016 and charged him with second-degree breach of peace related to a workplace threat. Quinn's history also includes a 30-day suspension for insubordination and charges related to improper use of force.

But Quinn claims bigotry prompted the actions against him. According to his lawsuit, the police department has 122 employees, but only two black and two Hispanic officers, including Quinn, who's been on the force for seven years.

The complaint alleges violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Connecticut Fair Employment Practices Act. It claims “the defendants recklessly, intentionally and maliciously discriminated” against Quinn, and treated him differently than other employees.

Quinn is suing Gould in his individual capacity and in his official capacity as police chief of the central Connecticut town. His lawsuit claims Gould “acted intentionally or recklessly” by not putting an end to the alleged harassment.

Gould's office referred all comments to Bristol Corporation Counsel Wyland Clift, who told the Connecticut Law Tribune the town is gearing to refute the allegations.

“We are defending the lawsuit,” Clift said, adding the city retained attorney David Monastersky, of Howd & Ludorf, to represent it and Gould.

The lawsuit cites among the examples an alleged department edict to scrutinize Quinn's response time to police calls “so that they could fabricate discipline against” him.

“The plaintiff has been disciplined more harshly than non-Hispanic officers regarding the use of force,” it claims.

At one point, the lawsuit alleges, a senior member of the department “ordered its white, non-Hispanic personnel to document every little thing on Quinn so that it could further discipline him, up to termination.”

Quinn's lawsuit notes an arrest warrant, which, according to news reports from January 2016, involve Quinn allegedly making a threat in the workplace. He was charged by his own department, according to a news account from WVIT-TV, with second-degree breach of peace. What followed is unclear, as a clerk with the New Britain courthouse told the Connecticut Law Tribune Thursday there was no public record of the outcome of the charge.

Quinn also notes he was the subject of five internal investigations.

The city's attorney, Monastersky, told the Connecticut Law Tribune Thursday the suspension stemmed from three separate investigations and included two charges of improper use of force and one of insubordination. Monastersky also said there were at least five internal and administrative investigations against Quinn, who was “exonerated for some,” but not others.

Quinn remains on the police force.

“The defendants have imposed, and continue[] to impose, punishment upon and discipline upon the plaintiff in retaliation for his complaints, and because of his Hispanic race and/or heritage,” the complaint alleges.

Colleagues also made derogatory comments, according to the lawsuit, which cited an example of a supervisor allegedly saying: “Hey, we just arrested another Jose and maybe we should send his wetback ass back to Mexico.”

Representing Quinn is New Haven solo practitioner William Palmieri, who did not respond to a request for comment.

The lawsuit seeks compensatory and punitive damages as well as attorney fees.

Judge Victor Bolden is scheduled to hear the case.