Report: East Haven Police Officer Files Gender Discrimination Suit

It has been another busy week in the local news headlines for the East Haven Police Department.

First, veteran East Haven Police officer Danielle Germe filed a lawsuit alleging she has faced sexual discrimination as a female member of the department, according to a New Haven Register report.

In the complaint, the detective says she was treated differently by her superiors — including Police Chief Brent Larrabee — because she is a woman.

The report on Germe's lawsuit was followed by the news on Wednesday that a jury had awarded $12.2 million to a West Haven man who had accused the East Haven Police of misconduct during an incident that led to his injury in 2006.

In his case, the jury ruled in favor of Thomas Ventura, who had alleged that East Haven officers responded to the call of a suspected impaired driver by taking the man home without arrest or impounding his vehicle. 

The man then reportedly returned to his vehicle and drove away, striking Ventura, who was a pedestrian at the time, resulting in traumatic brain injury and fractures, according to a WTNH report.