As of November 2, 2020, the Kauai Police Department in Hawaii has reached a settlement resulting in a $1.84 million payment.
This legal battle is no new situation. It began in 2016 when Mark Begley sued the KPD and the county on the allegation that he had been retaliated against and harassed by the KPD Chief at the time, Darryl Perry.
According to Hawaii News Now, Begley states that the harassment began in 2012. Begley claims that he had “encouraged a female officer to file a sexual harassment complaint against another KPD assistant chief.” Chief Perry allegedly mishandled the complaint and was suspended by the Mayor at the time, Bernard Carvalho.
Perry was put back in command by an appeals court, and Begley claims that the chief and others in the department launched investigations against him in an attempt to force him out. He took stress leave in 2012 and was reinstated last year.
Kauai County admitted to no wrongdoing in the settlement, but in an email, retired Chief Perry stated, “The main reason for the settlement was because the insurance company did not want to incur anymore legal fees such as from attorney Ms. Loretta Sheehan (former HPD commissioner) and others.”
