St. Paul police chief's lawsuit adds new claim against Mayor Her
Mayor Her report: Boundaries crossed, retaliation claims unsubstantiated
An investigation report on sexual harassment allegations against St. Paul Mayor Her was released a week after St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry filed a civil lawsuit claiming she touched him inappropriately and that he experienced retaliation for reporting it. FOX 9's Karen Scullin has the story.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry filed an amended lawsuit last week adding an additional claim against Mayor Kaohly Her as he accuses the mayor of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior.
Mayor Her lawsuit
The backstory:
Henry filed the lawsuit against Her last month after the city issued findings in his sexual harassment complaint. The complaint included allegations of sexual comments, unwanted touching, altered photographs and retaliation against Her.
Her was accused of making sexual advances toward Henry, editing photos of Henry and other cops. Then, Henry alleges Her retaliated after he rejected Her's alleged advances and reported her conduct.
Local perspective:
The new complaint includes a new count against Her individually, alleging reprisal under Minnesota's Human Rights Act. The original lawsuit included a reprisal count against the city.
The new count cites Her making "public statements" alleging Henry lied about Her's conduct, made statements alleging a motive for Henry's complaint, and excluding Henry from personnel decision-making, among other claims.
Lawsuit references Her interview
The other side:
The updated complaint also includes references to an interview Her gave last month where she discussed the lawsuit – her only public comments on the matter.
Her appeared on a YouTube interview with former St. Paul council member Dai Thao for an interview in Hmong.
The interview was translated by the Pioneer Press and excerpts of the translation are included in the lawsuit. In those excerpts, Her claimed phone calls Her would make to Henry were about "work matters" and she claimed Henry twisted it to be about Her "wanting to have a personal conversation with him."
Her also reportedly said that she should have been more cautious about her interactions with Henry because she realized "in American culture that opening your heart is used as a weak point and weaponized against people."
Her also denied the claims that she wanted to date Henry or asked members of the public to judge her on her work – not on what they hear in the media.
The Source: This story uses Axel Henry's amended lawsuit against St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her and past FOX 9 reporting.