Demoted Woodstock Police Chief Joe Swanson has amended his civil lawsuit against the village and top officials to add more claims after an attempt was made to place the veteran officer on involuntary medical leave for an unsubstantiated claim of “severely shaking hands,” according to new filings in Vermont Superior Court.
A complete medical exam by Swanson’s medical doctor proved the village’s claim made last week was invalid and should be added to the $5 million civil lawsuit, according to Linda Fraas, lawyer for Swanson.
She maintained acting Police Chief Chris O’Keeffe and municipal manager Eric Duffy perpetuated a false medical claim in retaliation for Swanson fighting to resume his job as head of Woodstock Police.
“Defendants Duffy and O’Keeffe actions were motivated by retaliation, discrimination and malice, and constitute harassment and creation of a hostile workplace,” Fraas wrote in the amended lawsuit.
The newly amended complaint outlines an odd sequence of events that unfolded leading up to the involuntary paid leave for Swanson last week. Swanson was quickly restored to his demoted post as a patrol officer once a medical doctor cleared him, the records noted.
Duffy had put Swanson on involuntary medical leave on Aug. 20 and provided the former chief up to three weeks to get a medical exam, but Swanson didn’t wait. The following day, Swanson secured a complete medical checkup from Dr. William L. Burch, who has been treating him at the VA Hospital in White River Junction since June 2017. The doctor gave Swanson a clean bill of health, the amended lawsuit notes.
“When I examined him today, I did not discern any hand-shaking and I did not discern any abnormal movements,” Burch said in a letter dated Aug. 21.
Burch also noted that “I can speak to the numerous prior meetings I have had with Mr. Swanson and at no time did I discern significant hand shaking or tremors nor did he report such issues or problems to me.”
Duffy did not respond to multiple phone and text messages about the medical leave and the new legal claim filed against him.
O’Keeffe said this week that he would be unable to comment on any possible confidential medical issues raised in the lawsuit.
O’Keeffe was never named in the initial lawsuit as a defendant, but based on the village’s initial written response, Fraas moved to amend the original complaint to add the acting chief for three legal claims. Now Fraas has added a fourth claim against O’Keeffe.
The initial request to add O’Keeffe is still pending before Judge H. Dickson Corbett, who has been handling the case since it was initially filed.
The amended complaint noted Duffy forced Swanson to share with his doctor the manager’s medical concerns, provide a copy of his police job description and obtain a note verifying he was fit to return to work at Woodstock Police.
Swanson was allowed to return to his demoted position of patrol officer on the overnight shift.
The lawsuit has now expanded to 286 paragraphs, outlining the misconduct claims alleged by Swanson.
The new filing claims the Vermont Fair Employment Practices Act (VFEPA) was violated when O’Keeffe and Duffy retaliated and discriminated against Swanson by placing him on involuntary medical leave on Aug. 20 “without any objective reasonable grounds to do so under the pretext of concerns regarding his fitness to serve as a patrol officer due to unfounded allegations of ‘shaky hands.’”
For more on this story, please see our August 28 edition of the Vermont Standard.
