Female police officer claims sexual harassment in suit against ex-McCandless chief, lieutenant

A McCandless police officer is suing the town, former chief and a lieutenant alleging discrimination, sexual harassment and retaliation.

Melissa Delval filed the lawsuit on Friday in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court naming as defendants former chief David DiSanti and Lt. Jeffrey Basl.

DiSanti resigned last November after previously being placed on administrative leave while officials investigated allegations by Delval and two other women with ties to the department.

Delval was hired by the department in August 2017. She filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission in March 2019.

According to the lawsuit, Delval was subjected to “constant, persistent and systemic sexual harassment and discrimination,” as well as a hostile work environment.

The lawsuit alleges that DiSanti grabbed and forcibly kissed Delval while she was in full uniform and on duty after her training officer stopped at the chief’s house for a family gathering on Sept. 4, 2017.

The complaint also accuses Basl of making “constant, daily, crude, lewd and inappropriate sexual comments” to Delval. It said that once, when she drove through a parking lot where Basl was, he turned to face her, “grabbing his genitals over his pants, sticking out his tongue and shaking his genitals and head at her.”

Basl previously was suspended for 10 days following allegations he created a hostile work environment in the department.

The lawsuit accused the town of McCandless of allowing and perpetuating the misconduct by failing to properly investigate it, and said it “has therefore directly cultivated and permitted this fraternity atmosphere to permeate all aspects of its police department.”

Delval alleges that the department retaliated against her for filing the Human Relations Commission complaint by refusing to interview her for an open detective position. It also claims that when Delval became pregnant and asked the department for accommodations after she was involved in a physical altercation with a suspect, that town manager Robert T. Grimm told her the department did not have any light duty positions.

Grimm could not be reached for comment.

The complaint alleges that McCandless officials have said they will not “even consider implementing” a maternity policy.

Jordan P. Shuber, an attorney with Dillon, McCandless, King, Coulter and Graham, issued a statement Saturday on behalf of McCandless Township: “We received notice of the lawsuit this morning, we are reviewing the allegations, and we plan to remove the case to federal court early next week.”