A former Carl Junction dispatcher claims she was harassed by police officers after she reported an inappropriate remark to her supervisors.
In a lawsuit filed today in Jasper County Circuit Court, Marlena Ellington, who worked for the city from August 2022 through April 2023 when she resigned, claims the harassment and lack of support from the police chief forced her into making that decision.
The events that led to her resignation were described in the petition:
Plaintiff informed the co-worker making the comment that she believed it to be inappropriate and reported the comment to supervising officers.
After reporting her co-worker’s comment, Plaintiff was subjected to retaliation in the form of having her name tag removed from a display wall and stomped on. Plaintiff also had her home visited by officers with spotlights on their vehicles pointed at/into Plaintiff’s home.
Plaintiff reported her concerns about retaliation to the chief of police, but no action was taken of which Plaintiff was aware to improve the environment.
The two-count lawsuit alleges retaliation and sexual harassment.
According to the petition, Ellington suffered lost wages, benefits, lost career opportunities and mental anguish. She is asking for damages, punitive damages and attorney fees.
Ellington is represented by attorney Timothy A. Ricker of the Springfield firm of Hall Ansley.
29 comments:
Creepy cops
When are Businesses, Government Agencies, Etc., truly going to Educate and Hold their employees accountable on the issues of harassment in any form.
In today's Attorney / Sue - Happy Society - the Risks are so Great and Costly that everyone is looking for a Quick Payday.
The Rule should be if you harass another employee - you are immediately terminated with cause and could face legal issues - especially if that employee costs the company money from any legal lawsuits.
The problem is the Business and Government Agencies are the ones - that get Sued - but the Employee that caused the issues need to also incur a loss of employment and a financial burden of the lawsuit.
So - Keep your Comments to Yourself and Just do your Job...
YAY MARLENA! I AM SO PROUD OF HER FOR SEEKING JUSTICE! OFFICER AMOS BINDEL NEEDS STOPPED.
I'm so proud of Marlena for suing the City for the continued actions of Officer Amos Bindel!
There’s always TWO sides to every story.
The anonymous comment here is coming from Kelsey Lucas. As you know there was an investigation done on this and it was found false. An outside attorney was even used. The star was also proven to be false when the video was reviewed and the star fell and the officer picked it up. Kelsey also tried to falsely accuse certain officers and that was proven she lied. No need to post anonymously here. I’m the wife of one of those officers so feel free to have a conversation with me personally. The chief did NOTHING wrong nor did the city officials. They did their job and they did what they felt was appropriate. It was proven in favor of the officers NOT the dispatch personnel. So before bashing and point blame publicly get your facts straight! Sue all ya want but there is always a truth that will come out and it would be a shame to find out it was from the one accusing who wasn’t telling the ENTIRE truth! You do also know that by public name dropping like this it’s also defamation of character, especially if it comes back that he was innocent. Is that why your posting anonymously Kesley? Again that isn’t hard to figure out.
There might be but telling someone to stand in front of a criminal to get seaman samples is point blank sexual harassment. It was reported I worked there when it was, and to say she wasn’t retaliated against.. anyone who says that with a straight face is lying about it. Because she was. Several people on that clan bragged about how much they didn’t like her after this and how that officer didn’t do anything wrong. Cheif was aware the entire time. Yes you are right there are two sides but in this case Marlena is in the right
CJPD is led by Mark McCall who was fired/resigned after stealing money from the Joplin FOP (I was there at the time, and he is a POS). He stole from other cops and has completely ignored multiple investigations that need to be conducted, including one where an African American resident's home was broken into, and racist comments were spray painted on the walls of the home. Part of the issue is that no one at CJPD is capable of investigating a crime.
A reason exists why there are some many openings at CJPD. One of them is because of the lack of professionalism and capability of the officers, mostly those that have been there a long time. An example would be a Sgt that retired from CPD. He's a nice guy but was never a street cop, just a dude who could do paperwork really well.
I would also suggest Heather take a moment to review statutes governing defamation. The filing of lawsuit is not defamation by any stretch of the imagination. Calling someone out in an online comment with the intent to, I suppose cause reputational harm, may meet the definition of defamation if certain elements are met. In that case, even as a private citizen, you could possibly be held responsible financially in a court case and have liens placed on your home and other financial holdings if a court found you liable.
While I am certain you will respond with some sort of comment indicating a person should "bring it on" or something akin to that, I hope you take a moment and think about your comment and the impact engaging in name dropping could have on your personal life and the professional life of your spouse. These comments don't disappear and your comment shows, to me at least, you would be someone I would want to depose and try to get additional information to support a claim against CJ. Mainly because you will be angry and spout stupid stuff I could use against others.
I am trying very hard not be a total tool, but I spent 23 years in law enforcement and retired from a local PD. I am familiar with almost everyone at CJPD and have zero confidence in any of them to investigate anything and believe the lawsuit has merit. Mark needs replaced and the PD needs to have higher standards for training, hiring, and holding officers accountable.
Where is the proof that she was retaliated? There are however video footage of a lot of things she claimed happened that did not. Videos do not lie. Humans on the other hand. And if you can’t defend your side or her side without hiding behind the anonymous tab then how on earth do we expect to believe you. You’re hiding but you claim you were there. Show up or shut up
They hired an outside attorney that had nothing to do with either parties involved and he concluded there was nothing there. The investigation she is referring to has nothing to do with the city or the PD.
As far as Mark goes that’s a different story so why bring up something that is irrelevant to the situation at hand and if you feel that strongly about it then there’s way to bring awareness to that. There’s a group for concerned Citizens you can let them know or keep it to yourself.
The person posting anonymously is named dropping that was already proven to be innocent. Therefore it is defamation of character. I also work for an attorney. Not saying the lady isn’t in her right to do what she’s doing by any means. If she feels wronged then she has every right to do as she wishes however the attorney they hired to cover this case isn’t even local to us or has any ties to the city, the PD or the people. They hired an outside source to investigate it so this right here wouldn’t happen or people think it was biased. The officer in question was found innocent. Now, if she feels like she was retaliated, therefore she needs to bring justifiable proof. That’s what she is doing now.
Doesn’t matter how many years you were in Law Enforcement that doesn’t mean you know what you’re speaking about and trying to make yourself sound educated. I said my thoughts about it and we shall just see what happens.
Yes make everything public so officers can harass my family. Nope won’t do it. There are more than just Marlena who have seen these officers go out of their way. Just ask Jasper county how that went for their dispatcher. There’s plenty of prof bindel admitted it to the cheif that he said it. That in itself is enough prof. You people need to open your eyes. Why would someone who loves dispatching just quit, someone who the entire department loved. I never heard a bad word against this person until after all this started. It’s also weird how she was still the majority favorite among cops at CJ whom weren’t associated with the group you protect. Maybe it’s time to look inside yourself
Also if you say someone harassed you, that company should protect you regardless of how they feel
Personally. She is as made to work with the person she said harassed her overnight alone just the two of them. That in itself again is enough to be considering retaliation and yes it was after it got turned in. And I know that for a fact I got to see the schedule. The lawyers have a copy of that schedule. You can tell your friend that’s married to one of them.
makes you wonder about police numbers did they leave for reasons other than money what a shame if true makes you wonder
Well if the there was no fault found then not it’s called doing your damn job. If you can’t do your job then go somewhere else. Obviously you couldn’t. Do you think the officer that was accused wanted to work with the person that accused him of something? Probably not. Posting anonymously doesn’t stop someone from figuring out who you are if you’re saying you worked there during these events.
You literally doing the same thing you’re saying Kelsey is doing! Heather!
I knew it had to be him before I even read the comments smh
There’s nothing she is saying that is defamation of character towards anyone if what she is stating is truth. She assumed the anonymous person is someone and it may or may not be however if what she is stating is truth then she isn’t doing anything of the sort.
What does it take to get any media attention or state auditor to look at the city budget? A few years back I voted in favor of a public safety tax to help increase funding for the police department less than five years later now staffing is supposedly at critical levels so after voting down a use tax four times now it’s going to vote for a fifth time to help fund the police department? What happened to the funds from the public safety tax increase?
Bad cops in a small town surprise,surprise. I am curious how long he was employed with CJP and where he is from originally.
Cops don’t move from job to job for no reason,
He’s still a cop there and has been for almost 10 years or close to it. He doesn’t hop jobs and I dont know where he was before there. This entire thing was debunked by a lawyer out of town. I am also under the understanding from others that don’t work at the PD that she was just as guilty as he was in this event. The city paid for the lawyer not sure if that came from the PD budget or the General fund
They just want to tax tax tax. Even if the use tax gets passed they’re just going to take it from another part of the fund anyway. The city officials are crooks and they all need to be replaced. The head honcho gets paid almost as much as joplin does. WTF for is beyond me. Him and his wife are liars and crooks and as long as they’re the ones pushing for tax I won’t vote for it
I think “Heather” should be called in to testify on behalf of the city since she has full knowledge to this case. Apparently she must be a witness and was there as she is making assumptions. Or maybe she’s just biased since her husband (another CJPD officer) is a business partner in the solar industry sales with the officer in question.
Ask the city admin. They put that into a “general fund” so the city can use it as needed in the name of “public safety.” It’s smoke and mirrors to make it look like it was just for the police. The fact is, it’s not. Whatever little amount of money is given to the police dept. also gets taken out of the original budget so there is never really any extra funding for the pd. It’s a dirty trick they played on us tax payers. Steve Laver (city admin) controls the purse.
Same guy doing solar sales? Yea I have seen him in uniform managing his solar crew on job sites. As a tax payer I would prefer for him to keep his personal side hustles on his own time. Not when he is supposed to be working for the city. I think maybe the AG needs called to look into possible time theft he is committing.
You know you sound bitter right? You act like none of this is public knowledge. Of course she is speaking on knowledgeable information however she didn’t say anything that wasn’t public other than she assumes you’re a certain person. Girl, it sounds like you need to take a break from social media.
I’m not even going to justify wasting my time explaining to you the meaning of facts. At least I have the balls to comment with my REAL name! 🙄 But hey.. if you want to put me on the stand… I would be extremely happy to be a character witness!
Kelsey have a good evening and good luck with your trial!
With all the information available to you and you don’t even use it. If you did then you would know her husband owns that solar company and the officer in questions works FOR him. Research kid
You are aware that even officers get breaks too. How do you know he isn’t taking a break and doing his “side hustle”? Or are you just assuming?
To the person name dropping Mark McCall. Do you have ACTUAL proof of that or you just spreading rumors? Seems like you may know what you’re talking about but you seem more like a tough guy just spouting crap out your mouth. Glad you’re no longer a cop cause it’s punks like you that I like to call out in court. Bet you cheat on your wife too.
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