St. Paul police chief sues Mayor Kaohly Her, alleging sexual harassment and retaliation
Go Deeper.
Create an account or log in to save stories.
Like this?
Thanks for liking this story! We have added it to a list of your favorite stories.
St. Paul Police chief Axel Henry sued Mayor Kaohly Her and the city Wednesday, alleging Her sexually harassed him and that city officials retaliated against him after he complained about her conduct.
The 73-page civil complaint, filed Wednesday morning in Ramsey County District Court by Henry’s attorney Chris Madel, includes allegations of unwanted touching, sexual comments and repeated attempts by Her to develop a closer personal relationship with Henry. The lawsuit also alleges violations of the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act, Minnesota Whistleblower Act and Minnesota Human Rights Act, along with other claims.
Henry alleges that Her repeatedly told him her marriage was in trouble and at one point told him the two needed to be friends or “this was not going to work.” Henry says he interpreted that as a possible threat to his job.
The lawsuit also alleges Her described herself to Henry using a sexualized acronym, made innuendos about the size of his penis and twice placed her hand on his upper thigh underneath a conference room table during a March 18 police budget meeting. The complaint says Assistant chief Paul Ford witnessed the contact.
Turn Up Your Support
MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all.
Henry’s lawsuit adds details to allegations he previously made in a complaint to the city’s human resources department.
According to the lawsuit, Her entered Henry’s office in January and removed a personal photograph of Henry, a deputy chief and a sergeant. She allegedly replaced their bodies with those of three bodybuilders wearing compression shorts, printed the altered photo, put it in a gold frame and returned it to Henry’s office. The lawsuit alleges she also created altered images placing the officers’ faces on members of a boy band.
Henry previously alleged that Her altered official photographs of St. Paul police command staff displayed outside the chief’s office. The lawsuit says former Deputy chief Shari Falkowski stopped Her when she attempted to alter Falkowski’s photograph, telling the mayor she had “worked very hard to have her picture on that wall.”
The complaint also describes several occasions when Henry alleges Her sought him out socially.
Henry says he was off duty at a Woodbury golf simulator with a police sergeant in early February when Her learned where he was and had her police department driver take her there unannounced. Later that month, the lawsuit alleges, Her called Henry while he was sleeping and accused him of ignoring her.
Henry also alleges that Her arranged a Saturday night meeting with him, initially at Mancini’s and later at Sweeney’s Saloon. According to the lawsuit, Her discussed problems in her marriage and offered to drive Henry home after unsuccessfully encouraging him to order an alcoholic drink.
Henry says Her retaliated after he filed a human resources complaint by excluding him from personnel decisions, publicly criticizing his complaint and giving raises to other members of the police command staff but not to him.
The lawsuit comes less than a week after St. Paul released a two-page summary of an outside investigation into Henry’s allegations. The investigation found that Her had engaged in “offensive and inappropriate behavior” with city employees but did not substantiate allegations of sexual harassment or retaliation. Her said afterward that she had become too informal in some communications and had “crossed lines” inconsistent with the city’s workplace conduct policy.
The city has not publicly released the full investigative report. Henry alleges that officials have also withheld it from him and that he is entitled to see it under Minnesota’s Data Practices Act.
A spokesperson for Her said Wednesday that the independent investigation did not substantiate sexual harassment or retaliation against any city employee and that the mayor would follow its recommendations.
“Beyond that, the City of Saint Paul doesn't comment on active litigation,” the spokesperson said.
