The St. Paul, Minnesota, police chief has sued the city’s first female mayor, claiming that she sexually harassed him and “embarked on a campaign” of retaliation after he reported the alleged abuse.
Chief Axel Henry, who has led the St. Paul Police Department since 2022, said Mayor Kaohly Her grabbed “his upper thigh beneath a conference-room table — not once, but twice — during a (St. Paul Police Department) budget meeting.”
Henry, in the lawsuit filed on Wednesday, said Her made sexual innuendos about the size of his penis and described herself to him as a “MILF,” which is an acronym for “mother I’d like to f—.”
Her, according to the lawsuit, also confided in Henry that her own marriage was in trouble and warned the police chief that they “needed to be ‘friends’ or ‘this is not going to work.’”
The 73-page lawsuit filed in Ramsey County District Court, which names Her and the city as defendants, also contains previously reported allegations that the mayor created “a hostile and demeaning environment” for his staff by sending a meme about “good weinering.”
“Wienering” is an internet slang term for sexual intercourse and is frequently misspelled as “weinering.”
Henry is seeking a jury trial to determine damages for “lost wages and benefits, emotional distress, humiliation, and harm to reputation.”
In response to Henry’s lawsuit, Her’s chief spokesperson, Matt Wagenius, released a statement denying the police chief’s major allegations.
“An independent investigation did not substantiate claims of sexual harassment or retaliation against any city employee,” it said. “The Mayor will continue to lead Saint Paul and follow the recommendations of the report. Beyond that, the City of Saint Paul doesn’t comment on active litigation.”
That investigation did, however, conclude that Her “engaged in offensive and inappropriate behavior” with her employees. The mayor has issued two apologies and explained that some of her “attempts at humor” fell flat.
Her, who took office in January, has been under fire since July when The Minnesota Star-Tribune first reported that Henry had submitted a sexual harassment complaint against the mayor.
Henry, in the lawsuit, also claims that the mayor hired a private public relations firm to discredit Henry after the investigation got underway. And he alleged that St. Paul city officials violated the Minnesota Whistleblower Act when they “engaged in a series of retaliatory acts” because of the sexual harassment complaint.
The chief also recounted that in December he and the mayor met at a cigar lounge with Todd Hurley, president of the St. Paul Port Authority, to discuss potentially moving the police station downtown to attract more businesses.
Her, according to the lawsuit, allegedly told Henry at that meeting that if she didn’t get her way she would just tell people that Hurley “grabbed her ass.”
“At the time, the comment struck Chief Henry as reflecting a crude sense of humor; he later came to believe that Mayor Her likely had not been joking,” the lawsuit states.
Henry, in the lawsuit, also stated that Her would work out at the gym at police headquarters where she would allegedly make “grunting and moaning noises that sounded like she was having an orgasm.”
Her, according to the lawsuit, also doctored photographs of Henry and other police officers and displayed the “sexualized” images in a gold frame in the chief’s office.
Just days before Henry filed the lawsuit, Her’s office requested that the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office take over the role of providing security for the mayor from the SPPD, citing “the ongoing threat and increased incidents of political violence towards elected officials.”
Neither the police department nor the sheriff’s office cited Her’s strained relationship with Henry and the St. Paul police department as a reason for the security switch. The sheriff’s office said it was contacted on Sept. 10 to provide security services. The police department said it will “continue monitoring for any threats” against the mayor’s office.
Her, 53, was born in Laos and spent part of her childhood in a refugee camp. She was 3 when she arrived in the U.S., and she grew up in Illinois and Wisconsin, according to her campaign biography.
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