Costa Mesa police officer claims harassment, retaliation by supervisor, city

A Costa Mesa police officer has sued the city and a supervisor at the Police Department, alleging he was harassed and retaliated against after an on-the-job injury triggered a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Traffic Officer Jeffrey Horn started having anxiety, flashbacks, nightmares, difficulty concentrating and other symptoms after a motorcycle accident in May 2010 caused him to take more than two weeks off to recover, according to a civil complaint filed Dec. 17 in Orange County Superior Court.

Horn claims that when he returned, he was treated differently by management and that during the next few years was harassed because of his disability and denied opportunity for career advancement.

The lawsuit names both the city and Horn’s sergeant at the time, Greg Scott, who is now a lieutenant.

“Sgt. Scott had overtly stigmatized and treated [Horn] with contempt as soon as he returned from the accident,” the lawsuit claims.

Scott declined to comment Wednesday. He referred questions to the city, which typically does not comment on pending litigation. A city spokesman did not respond to a voice mail.

In July 2010, Horn was diagnosed with PTSD stemming from the motorcycle crash, and the city was informed the same day, according to the lawsuit.

About six months later, Horn began working under Scott, who “micromanaged and questioned his performance much more so than other officers,” according to court documents filed on Horn’s behalf.

The lawsuit says a negative performance review resulted in Horn being placed on a six-month improvement plan, which included taking him off motorcycle duty.

Horn claims he requested in November 2011 that the negative review be reconsidered because his PTSD could have been a factor in the deficiencies it cited.

As a result, the lawsuit says, “Sgt. Scott proceeded to chastise, interrogate and intimidate him for approximately 90 minutes about his disability” and refused to accept that the PTSD could have caused performance problems at work.

Horn says he approached Costa Mesa’s human-resources department in January 2012 to complain about Scott’s behavior and again requested that the review be reconsidered.

Days later, Scott confronted Horn after receiving a copy of the complaint, according to the lawsuit.

“Sgt. Scott was furious, skulking and stomping around [Horn] while reading the memo at him as he forced him to stand in the center of the room,” the lawsuit states. “After [Horn] was dismissed, he felt severely distressed, intimidated and humiliated.”

According to the lawsuit, city and police officials refused to investigate the harassment complaint or reconsider the performance review and improvement plan, which Horn finished in April 2012. He then returned to motorcycle duty.

Horn claims the department continued to treat him unfairly by denying him an assignment as a training officer and a promotion to sergeant in favor of less-qualified candidates. At the beginning of 2014, Horn was taken off motorcycle duty when the traffic division was reorganized, the lawsuit says.

He claims the actions were retaliation for reporting Scott’s behavior.

“Horn has not been on motorcycle patrol throughout 2014, resulting in a loss of pay, loss of use of the city’s motorcycle for transport to and from work, and severe loss of job satisfaction (he loves working on a motorcycle),” according to the lawsuit.

Horn still works at the department, where he has been an officer since 1999.

As part of the lawsuit, Horn wants the negative portions of his personnel file removed. The suit also seeks lost wages, compensation for medical bills and punitive damages against Scott.