Philadelphia pays out $1.25 million for sex assault lawsuit

PHILADELPHIA – The city of Philadelphia has paid $1.25 million to settle a lawsuit with a former city official who claimed she was sexually assaulted by a veteran police commander who is still on the job.

Mayor Jim Kenney’s spokesman said Thursday the Democratic mayor found the lawsuit against Chief Inspector Carl Holmes and the Philadelphia Police Department extremely troubling. Philly.com reports the judge overseeing the case wrote in a memo that evidence suggested the city knew of specific problems with police sexual assault, but “did little or nothing to stop such conduct.”

According to public records, the city paid $222,000 to resolve five sexual harassment lawsuits involving police in the past decade. Holmes was also previously accused of sexual assault by another woman in 2008.

Holmes has denied both women’s allegations.

___

Information from: The Philadelphia Inquirer, http://www.inquirer.com