New Castle County appears ready to settle a federal lawsuit claiming decades of sexual harassment and cover-ups in its police department, largely by an officer who rose to the agency’s second-highest rank.
County Council passed a pair of proposals Tuesday night asking to dip into the county’s tax reserve to cover legal fees to the tune of about $3 million. Part of that is to secure up to $1.7 million to “partially fund” the settling of this lawsuit that claims various members of the county allowed now-retired Lt. Col. Quinton Watson to continue his sexual harassment and abuse.
The county has spent more than $1.2 million in legal fees since the lawsuit was filed, according to the proposal.
A spokesman for County Executive Matt Meyer said they would be commenting after the meeting, but as of 7 p.m. no statement had been made.
While it’s unclear what the terms of the settlement would be, the ordinance says the county, with the advice of its counsel, “has agreed with the plaintiffs to settle the lawsuit, contingent on Council’s approval of the funding of the settlement amount ….”
Watson has agreed to pay an amount directly to the plaintiffs to settle their claims against him, according to the passed ordinance. The law also stipulates no portion of the $1.7 million would be used to “pay the amounts Watson has agreed to pay the plaintiffs.”
Ten councilmembers voted to pass the items, while Councilwoman Dee Durham voted present on both ordinances and Councilmen Penrose Hollins and Bill Bell were absent.
The lawsuit, filed in June 2020, came after six women detailed their experiences at the department to Delaware Online/The News Journal earlier that year. The women shared their story with the newspaper after what they called years of inaction by the department and county.
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Even before the lawsuit was filed, the women said they were not interested in money from the county but rather, public acknowledgement that this conduct happened. The attorney representing the women could not be reached for comment ahead of Tuesday’s meeting.
Watson was allowed to retire in “good standing” in 2019 despite being under investigation for these allegations. The investigation was conducted by the Wilmington Police Department, which sent letters to five of the women saying their claims were sustained.
After that, the women approached the state Attorney General’s Office and a second investigation into their complaints was quietly initiated.
This investigation by the Division of Civil Rights and Public Trust found that the three-year statute of limitations had passed for sexual harassment crimes by a public employee. But Chief Deputy Attorney General Alexander S. Mackler wrote in a letter to New Castle County Council’s attorney that the findings were “disturbing.”
Though they could not criminally prosecute, the Delaware Department of Justice retained the private law firm of Potter Anderson & Corroon LLP “to investigate whether the NCCPD has engaged in a pattern and practice of discriminatory conduct in violation of Delaware law, and if warranted, initiate enforcement proceedings against the County in Delaware’s Court of Chancery,” Mackler wrote.
He also wrote that given the investigation’s findings, the matter is not considered closed.
The Department of Justice, on Tuesday, said the investigation s ongoing.
In their 40-page complaint, the women argued that Watson “set workplace precedent and spawned a hostile environment of rampant sexual harassment, sexual assault, overt misogyny, and retaliation among female employees within the NCC government.”
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The 40-page lawsuit goes on to say Watson “normalized the practice of preying on subordinate female employees which Defendant NCC covered up for years, allowing Defendant Watson, as an abuser, to thrive.”
The women – who at the time were five current officers and one retired – argue in the filling that not only were they discriminated against because of their sex, but they also endured a hostile work environment, sexual harassment and an abuse of power at the hands of numerous county officials, including former Col. Vaughn Bond, Meyer and county Chief Administrative Officer Vanessa Phillips.
Bond, who headed the county’s public safety department that oversees the police department, retired last year
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After the claims against Watson first came out, county officials said they instituted mandatory sexual harassment training and hired an outside law firm to review the patterns and practices within county government regarding bias in the workplace.
This is a developing story. Check back with delawareonline.com for more information.
Contact Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299, eparra@delawareonline.com or Twitter @eparra3.
