A former Maui police officer alleges she was discriminated against by the Maui Police Department because of her race and gender and subjected to sexual and racial harassment. 2nd harassment trial
opens for female ex-copBy Debra Barayuga
dbarayuga@starbulletin.comThis is the second trial in U.S. District Court for Bonnie Burke, who first sued the MPD in January 1998. She first went to trial in federal court in May 1999 and lost.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals subsequently ruled that "highly prejudicial" testimony about Burke's sexual history should not have been introduced at trial, and ordered a new trial.
According to her attorney, Shawn Luiz, Burke was subjected to rude, demeaning sexual comments about female body parts and female functions from fellow officers. She was referred to as a "dumb haole from the mainland" or "dumb girl that got injured" after a shotgun accident during annual recertification training in which several of her teeth got knocked out.
Burke, who joined the MPD in February 1991, claimed she became the target of harassment and ridicule by officers and supervisors particularly after she fainted on the job in April 1997.
When she complained about the harassment and retaliation, officers allegedly retaliated by not responding to her calls for back-up, putting her life and other citizens in danger. They also interrupted her radio transmissions so her calls for assistance could not be heard by police dispatchers, Luiz said.
Burke also accused former Deputy Chief Lanny Tihada of raping her on several occasions.
But Richard Rand, an attorney representing Maui County, said Tihada is expected to testify that their sexual encounters were consensual and that Burke had initiated them.
Attorneys for Maui County say Burke was not harassed or mistreated and that the Maui Police Department did what it could to accommodate her, a single mom who was later diagnosed with a blood disorder.
The illness made her susceptible to bruising and injury that limited the kind of work she could do, so Burke was reassigned to light duty, Rand said. A position was created for her in Lahaina so she didn't have to make long commutes.
Officers also rallied to her aid by donating their vacation time or checks from special duty jobs while she was on sick leave, he said.
When her doctor allowed her to return to patrol, she was allowed to work Monday through Friday only with a few days on patrol and the rest in the evidence room, Rand said.
In written documentation of her grievances to the department, she never mentioned being sexually harassed or assaulted by Tihada and that only after she filed suit did she bring it up, two years after Tihada had retired, Rand said.