Former McKeesport police officer accuses department of race, gender discrimination

A former McKeesport police officer is suing her old employer for race and gender discrimination because she said she was fired without cause.

Candace Tyler worked as a McKeesport police officer from 2005 through Oct. 19, 2021, when she was fired.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court Thursday, alleges that Tyler was treated differently than male and white employees in the department.

City Solicitor J. Jason Elash said in a written statement that the city disputes the veracity of Tyler’s allegations.

“We disputed the same allegations, which were made in an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint and were immediately dismissed when all of the pertinent records were provided,” he said. “The city has the utmost confidence in the administration and operation of the McKeesport Police Department.”

According to the lawsuit, the EEOC issued Tyler a right-to-sue letter in May.

In her complaint, Tyler said she questioned her supervisors about why she had not been promoted or given the chance to advance in the department despite her long tenure. She said in the lawsuit that Assistant Chief Mark Steele told her, “‘We are not going to promote Black females.’”

She filed a grievance over his statement, but the department never responded to it, the complaint said.

Then in May 2021, the lawsuit said, Tyler found a photograph in her office mailbox of a male officer from the department wearing only underwear pulled down below his hip with his genitals in his hand.

“She was told (by her supervisors) that it was just a joke and to let it go,” the lawsuit said.

Tyler alleges in her complaint that the picture was left for her as a form of intimidation and retaliation. Additional retaliation occurred when she was taken off patrol and placed at the warden’s desk, and then subjected to verbal attacks, heightened scrutiny and written up for alleged infractions that were not enforced when white, male officers engaged in similar conduct, the complaint said.

Between Sept. 22 and Oct. 4, the lawsuit continued, a sergeant filed six reports against Tyler “detailing incidents where the plaintiff had allegedly placed officers’ lives in danger or had otherwise engaged in rules and policy infractions.”

Tyler was terminated on Oct. 19, but the department said the department failed to follow the union’s progressive discipline policy as laid out in the collective bargaining agreement.

The lawsuit said that the reasons cited in Tyler’s termination letter were simply a pretext to fire Tyler based on her race and gender.

The complaint also alleged that, even though McKeesport officers are required to live within the city of McKeesport, several white officers do not and they have never been disciplined for that.

Accompanying Tyler’s lawsuit are statements from two officers within the department who claim that she was wrongfully terminated and was a good police officer.

“To speak plainly, other officers have done far worse and (were) afforded the opportunity to serve a suspension and continue or finish their career,” wrote Officer Julian Thomas. “More often than not these opportunities were not afforded to minorities and women within the department.”

McKeesport Mayor Michael Cherepko declined to comment on the specifics of the case and said he could not discuss active legal proceedings.

“Without discussing any details related to this situation, I can say that I am extremely confident in our police department’s handling of this personnel matter,” Cherepko said in an emailed statement. “And I expect the city will be vindicated as a result.”