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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A bisexual LAPD officer who sued the city alleging he was subjected to a backlash for his sexual orientation was questioned about a 2019 trespassing complaint at a woman's Pasadena home, according to new court papers filed by the City Attorney's Office seeking dismissal of the plaintiff's case.
Officer Vincenzo Averaimo's Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit alleges discrimination, retaliation and failure to prevent discrimination and retaliation. The officer, who worked in the LAPD's Transit Services Division, also was a witness in two complaints of sexual harassment in June 2019, according to his court papers. In one, 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, the suit says.
But according to court papers filed by the City Attorney's Office on Thursday with Judge Thomas D. Long, Averaimo "had a pattern of behavior that cast serious doubt over his willingness to engage with the public in a manner befitting an Officer with the Los Angeles Police Department."
When the department demoted and transferred Averaimo out of the TSD, he had six open complaints on his records that ranged in severity and there were 16 complaints that he was discourteous or disrespectful to the public, according to the City Attorney's Office's court papers.
"Most egregiously, the Pasadena Police Department detained plaintiff while off-duty as the primary suspect in a trespassing investigation," the City Attorneys' Office further states in its court papers.
According to a PPD report attached to the city's court papers, Averaimo walked into a woman's home through an unlocked door on Sept. 20, 2019. When asked by the resident why he was there, Averaimo said it was "none of her business" and walked out, according to the City Attorney's Office's court papers.
The woman called the PPD and Averaimo maintained in a later interview with an officer that he went to the home expecting to see a woman he met on the Tinder, but he refused to let a department member check his cell phone to check his Tinder app, according to the police report. The officer did not believe he had probable cause to arrest Averaimo and that the situation was a misunderstanding, according to the police report.
However, the City Attorney's Office says Averaimo lied about the Tinder explanation and actually had attempted to meet with a man he met on the LGBTQ+ site Grindr.
"What is particularly problematic about this encounter is not Averaimo's conduct or the fact that he was meeting a date he met on Grindr, it is the fact that Averaimo did not inform his commanding officer immediately, despite LAPD policy advising otherwise," according to the court papers of the City Attorney's Office, which further state that Averaimo admitted in a deposition that waiting two months to reveal what happened was against LAPD policy.
Averaimo was suspended for 10 days, then later demoted and transferred to another assignment due to the totality of the performance issues, according to the City Attorney's Office's court papers, which further state that an LAPD captain concluded that Averaimo exhibited "deceptive behavior, poor judgment and an inability to make sound decision."
But according to the suit filed in August 2021, Averaimo alleges he was subsequently subjected to higher scrutiny by his supervisors, including a July 2019 use-of-force incident in which the plaintiff was given a correction notice despite not being directly involved in any use of force.
When Averaimo's bisexuality became known to the LAPD command staff after what happened in Pasadena, he was harassed even more, the suit alleges.
Averaimo conducted a traffic stop of a driver in March 2020 for speeding and gave the violator a citation, but the plaintiff says he learned that an anonymous third party filed a biased 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 says.
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 states. Also in July 2020, he was given a negative work evaluation, the only unsatisfactory annual rating he had received in 14 years as a police officer, according to the complaint.
The LAPD's alleged mistreatment of Averaimo has caused damage to his professional reputation and his ability to work, forcing him take a different retirement path, causing him to lose overtime pay and adversely affecting his income, pension and other benefits, according to the suit, which further states Averaimo's health also has been adversely affected.
A hearing on the city's dismissal motion is scheduled Nov. 14.