Tanisha Ross-Paige (left) was awarded $300,000 in compensatory damages and $7.2million in punitive damages from the St. Louis Board of Police Commissioners for sexual harassment and retaliation. Ross-Paige's original lawsuit filed in 2011 claimed that her then-supervisor, Sgt. Steven Gori (right), created and distributed a mock 'Wanted' poster with her picture and comments about her body, and asked the married subordinate to sit on his lap and skinny-dip in his hot tub.
According to the complaint cited by the St Louis Post-Dispatch, Gori and then-Lt. Michael Deeba began giving Ross-Paige bad shifts and different performance reviews than her colleagues, and denying her time off for training after she filed a complaint with the department in June 2011.
Ross-Paige's lawsuit alleged that Gori threatened to take her police dog, Duncan, away if she did not agree to date him.
Ross-Paige joined the force in 2005 and the canine unit in 2008. She filed her lawsuit on December 22, 2011.
Then on January 4, 2012, she was injured by another canine officer's dog during a training exercise, lawyers said, permanently disabling her.
Her lawyers said she moved to Baltimore fearing further retaliation and has separated from her husband.
When Duncan was retired, he was given to a groundskeeper rather than to Ross-Paige, his partner, as was customary.
Mailonline
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