Cambridge paid $1.4 million to settle sexual harassment case

The City of Cambridge spent $1.4 million in 2020 to settle a sexual harassment case involving a high-ranking member of the police department who created a hostile work environment, city officials confirmed Monday.

Cambridge spokesperson Jeremy Warnick confirmed to Boston.com that the $1.4 million settlement went to three employees in the police department due to allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct by Sgt. James Crowley. 

Warnick said their investigation “sustained some of the allegations” associated with a Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination case reported in 2018.

Crowley was disciplined for the hostile work environment misconduct, which Warnick described as sexually oriented comments, jokes, innuendos, “and other offensive statements.”

The Boston Globe originally reported Monday that the settlement went to three female officers in the department. Their lawyer, Ellen Zucker, confirmed the Globe’s reporting to Boston.com, which included inappropriate text messages Crowley allegedly sent to his coworkers.

According to the Globe, Crowley denies sending a picture of his crotch to a group chat when referencing a want for snacks, writing “gotcha covered,” an alleged incident the newspaper learned of through a public records request. 

Crowley acknowledged another text where he told a female officer they “shouldn’t ignore the moment” they shared when he helped her off a fence after a foot chase, the Globe reported. He then said he “saved [her] undercarriage from certain destruction and future baby making.”

Crowley “strongly” denied the harassment allegations to the Globe, calling them “bogus” and “outrageous.”

Crowley is still a member of the department. He was previously in the national spotlight when he arrested Harvard University Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., a Black man, at his home in 2009. Former President Barack Obama said the police “acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home” but famously invited both men to a “beer summit” at the White House.

The Cambridge Police Department did not return a request for comment.

Cambridge City Council given little detail on sexual harassment settlement

The Globe reported that Cambridge hid the settlement for years. City councilors were asked to approve the $1.4 million payment in 2020 without many details, but only two voted against approving the settlement, according to the Globe.

“It’s $1.4 million of taxpayer money that could have gone to any number of things,” City Councilor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler, who voted against the payment, told the newspaper. “The public should have known what it was going for, and the council wasn’t given the details. The public weren’t given the details. And I still don’t understand why.”

Cambridge City Manager Yi-An Huang, who was appointed in 2022, said in a statement that the city is committed to ensuring the council “has enough information to make good decisions and exercise appropriate oversight.”

“Undoubtedly, there are tensions in cases like this and more broadly regarding protecting complainants, exercising due process, public transparency, accountability, legal obligations, and the deeper work of changing culture,” Huang said.

Since the settlement, Cambridge hired Christine Elow, the police department’s first female commissioner. 

“I’ve been in conversations with Commissioner Christine Elow and her leadership team on how we encourage feedback, protect against retaliation, exercise due process, ensure accountability, and build a safe and inclusive culture,” Huang said. “I have complete trust in their leadership and work, and that this has been a priority over the last many years.”