http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/woman-settles-harassment-suit-against-ex-cop-city-for-k/article_28491c2f-7f7c-5fdc-a84e-9e9bc5f44c21.html

Woman settles harassment suit against ex-cop, city for $55K

Print
Font Size:
Default font size
Larger font size

Posted: Friday, December 5, 2014 8:00 pm | Updated: 8:57 pm, Fri Dec 5, 2014.

One of six women who filed a lawsuit accusing a former Santa Fe police officer of harassment and the city’s former police chief of failing to take action against him has accepted a $55,000 settlement, court documents state.

Attorneys for the city and former police chief Ray Rael, and an attorney for former Officer Michael Eiskant, offered to settle with the five other women involved in the lawsuit, but those settlements haven’t been accepted. The details of those settlements were not disclosed in court records.

Eiskant could not be reached for comment, and his attorney, James Sullivan, did not return a call for comment Friday. Rael, who retired in March, said he was “out of the loop” and referred inquiries to the city.

“This is the first I hear of a settlement,” Rael said.

City spokesman Matt Ross said the city wasn’t going to comment on the case, “since it is still being adjudicated.”

The $55,000 settlement, “plus all reasonable costs, including reasonable attorney’s fees,” resolves “all claims” asserted by Tricia McFaul against the city, Rael and Eiskant.

“McFaul expressly states that she accepts the Offer of Judgment solely with respect to claims made on her own behalf,” according to her notice of acceptance.

McFaul accused Eiskant of using the restricted National Crime Information Center database to obtain personal information about McFaul after he saw her at a Starbucks.

“When she came out, Eiskant slowly drove by her in his police car,” the lawsuit states. “She and her daughter put some things in the car, then walked to Albertsons. As they were walking, Eiskant slowly drove by again. McFaul found his behavior to be very strange. Her daughter asked her what the police officer was doing. When they came out of Albertsons, Eiskant was gone but McFaul felt uneasy because she felt sure that he had run her license plate.”

McFaul, who is married to a state police officer, told her husband, Scott McFaul, what had happened.

“He ran her license plate number to see if it had been recently run,” the lawsuit states. “McFaul’s husband confirmed that Eiskant had run McFaul’s license plate number.”

Scott McFaul filed a complaint against Eiskant, leading the state Attorney General’s Office to initiate an investigation into misconduct by the officer. The police department also opened an internal affairs investigation into the matter.

“Eiskant was allowed to retire from SFPD” during the investigations, the lawsuit states.

In April 2012, Eiskant pleaded no contest to 10 charges, including stalking, harassment and two counts of unauthorized computer use. He was ordered to resign his certification as a sworn law enforcement officer in New Mexico.

Eiskant worked for the police department from June 1999 to February 2012. Numerous complaints were filed against him during that time, including aggravated assault, excessive force, stalking and harassment, the lawsuit states.

In July 2004, a confidential informant accused Eiskant of sexual assault. The New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy Board sought to revoke or suspend Eiskant’s law enforcement certification for misconduct stemming from the informant’s accusations. In 2007, Eiskant and the board entered an order in which Eiskant stipulated that there was enough evidence to show he had violated a rule that “prohibits acts that indicate a lack of good moral character and which adversely affect an officer’s ability to exercise his duties as a law enforcement officer,” the lawsuit states.

Under the order, Eiskant was suspended from duty for 30 days and placed on probation for a year. His Basic Tactics Instructor certification also was revoked.

Contact Daniel J. Chacón at 986-3089 or dchacon@sfnewmexican.com. Follow him on Twitter @danieljchacon.

You need to be a member of Peacepink3 to add comments!

Join Peacepink3

Votes: 0
Email me when people reply –