Timothy Turley is suing the Western Massachusetts Regional Police Academy. The 47-year-old West Roxbury resident, who enrolled as a student in 2013, said that not only was he subjected to numerous indignities, but also he was the target of age-related jokes and racially charged edicts by instructors. Some of these teachers are accused of directing anti-gay slurs at students. In addition to the academy, Turley is suing Municipal Police Training Committee director Daniel Zikovich, academy director Curtis McKenzie, the Municipal Police Training Commission, Delilah Yee, and Robert Powers.
In his Massachusetts hazing case, Turley claims that because he complained, he was expelled one month before finishing the program. He appealed the dismissal, but his request was denied. Prior to enrolling in the program, he worked as a law enforcement officer with the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department for twenty years.
Among the behaviors Turley was forced to endure: being made to put socks on a colleague’s bare feet, writing the “Use of Force” rule daily on a white board, and punishment for misspelling the word “volatile” in an assignment—he claims that his younger classmates who made common mistakes didn’t endure such treatment.One trainer that Turley identifies in his complaint is Sean Shattuck, a Holyoke cop who was involved in a brawl at a bar while off-duty in 2007. The plaintiff accuses him of simulating a sex act on another student while training was taking place. Shattuck has been removed from the academy as an instructor and is under investigation.
HAZING
Once considered a harmless way to prank initiates, hazing may lead to serious injuries and emotional and mental trauma. Hazing is often associated with groups in university and school settings. In one recent incident, a student at Syracuse University who was pledging the Nu Alpha Phi fraternity may end up losing four fingers after he was ordered to do push-ups in the snow in 19-degree temperature because he didn’t do his chores correctly. Two fraternity brothers face criminal charges of hazing in the first degree.
Contact our Boston personal injury law firm today.
Former Western Massachusetts Police Academy student claims hazing in federal lawsuit, MassLive.com, March 6, 2015
Syracuse Student May Loose Four Fingers After Allegedly Being Hazed in the Snow, March 5, 2015
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