A judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a bisexual LAPD officer against the city, in which the plaintiff alleged he was subjected to a backlash for his sexual orientation and for complaining about sexual and gender harassment he saw happening to others.
Officer Vincenzo Averaimo’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit alleged discrimination, retaliation and failure to prevent discrimination and retaliation. Judge Thomas D. Long heard arguments on Dec. 7 and granted the city’s dismissal motion on Monday, noting that the city produced evidence that the plaintiff has a “long history of complaints adjudicated against him that show his inability to respectfully interact with members of the public.”
Long also wrote that Averaimo’s “honesty, integrity, and trustworthiness were seriously called into question” after he waited more than 60 days to report his detention by Pasadena police in a September 2021 trespassing investigation.
“The (city) has met its burden of showing a legitimate and non-discriminatory reason for demoting and reassigning the plaintiff,” the judge wrote.
Averaimo was hired in April 2007 and worked in the LAPD’s Transit Services Division. He maintains he was a witness in two complaints of sexual harassment in June 2019. In one instance, a sergeant was alleged to have inappropriately touched a female, and in the other, an officer allegedly harassed an LAPD civilian employee regarding her weight.
“Following my reports of sexual harassment, I was subjected to an ongoing campaign of unusual, heightened scrutiny of me and my work,” Averaimo stated in a sworn declaration. “I was brought into several meetings (and) my supervisors suddenly began resolving standard public complaints to my detriment even though there was no proper grounds to do so.”
In September 2019, Averaimo’s supervisor found out that the plaintiff utilized a Grindr application to arrange a meeting with a man, according to the suit. Before then, Averaimo’s bisexuality was unknown to the LAPD, and as a result of the revelation, his command staff chose to harass him even more, the suit alleged.
One example occurred when Averaimo conducted a traffic stop of a driver in March 2020 for speeding, the suit stated. The violator was given a traffic citation, but Averaimo said he learned that an anonymous third party filed a bias complaint against the plaintiff regarding the traffic stop.
Averaimo’s supervisors “decided to bench plaintiff from public contact” and a sergeant chastised him about the incident, the suit stated.
Averaimo had meetings with members of the LAPD’s Employee Relations Group in June and July 2020 and complained he was a victim of discrimination and retaliation based on his sexual orientation, the suit stated. Also in July 2020, he was given a negative work evaluation, the only unsatisfactory annual rating he has received in 14 years as a police officer, according to the complaint.
“The LAPD’s actions against plaintiff are ongoing and are motivated by both discriminatory and retaliatory animus,” the suit alleged.
Averaimo says he was subsequently given a downgrade of his position by two pay levels, handed an administrative transfer and suspended for five days. He also was removed from overtime shifts and “administratively transferred” from Transit Services, the suit filed in August 2021 alleged.
Averaimo says his reputation has been damaged and he has been forced to take a different path to retirement. He also maintains he has lost overtime pay and that his pension and other benefits have been negatively impacted.
“Moreover, it has adversely affected my personal health and well-being,” according to Averaimo, who also says he has anxiety and anguish.