In some six hours of testimony on Monday, former coworkers of fired Westover Police Officer Aaron Dalton offered statements that ran the gamut, alleging everything from targeted racial intimidation to threats of sexual assault to being directed by Dalton to urinate on items thought to belong to homeless individuals.
Westover Civil Service commissioners Justin White, Jessica Thompson and Robert Berryman heard from six witnesses as the city began making its case for why Dalton’s termination was warranted.
“He said ‘white power’ when he did it,” former Westover Police Department administrative assistant Christine Riley said, explaining Dalton used that phrase in conjunction with a hand signal on two occasions while walking past her desk and photos of her biracial grandchildren. “It pissed me off. It wasn’t funny.”
Riley’s testimony was the first offered Monday, and ended up being the most vehemently denied by Dalton’s attorney, Christian Riddle, who brought it up specifically following the session.
“That’s one of the most egregious and scandalous falsifications that was stated here today, and it did not happen,” Riddle said.
The city of Westover paid Riley a $90,000 settlement in May 2022 after she filed suit claiming her job was eliminated by former Mayor Dave Johnson after she added her name to a letter calling for Dalton’s termination.
Riley was the only non-civil service employee of the 11 to sign the August 2020 letter.
That letter was very much at the heart of Monday’s testimony as a number of former and current Westover officers said they signed after becoming frustrated with Dalton’s behavior, which, they said, included threats, slurs and commentary about race and ethnicity, unwanted questions, requests and conversations that were sexual in nature and a general demeanor that fostered a hostile work environment in which officers began to distrust one another.
Multiple officers also pointed out that Dalton was a more senior officer and therefore looked at as being in a position of authority.
“That was an everyday occurrence. I dreaded coming in to work, knowing if he just happened to pick me to be pissed off at that month, that I was going to have a hell of a work week. It just depended if you were the officer he picked for that day to be mad at,” former Westover and current West Virginia State Police officer Isaiah Harmon said.
But Riddle contends that letter wasn’t a group effort from a fed-up department, but retaliation.
Before spending more than a year on paid administrative leave, and ultimately being terminated, Dalton was involved in two incidents that cost the city of Westover more than $1 million in settlements.
In January 2021, William Cox filed a lawsuit alleging he was kicked, punched, pepper-sprayed and falsely arrested by officers Dalton and Justice Carver for recording them with his cell phone as they drove by in a marked cruiser in August 2019. Cox received a settlement of $750,000.
Months earlier, on Jan. 1, 2019, Dalton’s body-worn camera captured footage of fellow officer Zachary Fecsko pulling Andre Howton out of his home, throwing him to the ground and striking him numerous times, resulting in multiple facial fractures and lost teeth. That encounter resulted in a lawsuit against both officers and former Westover Chief Rick Panico. It was settled for $350,000.
“This is all really the result of whistleblower retaliation exacted by Officer Fecsko and Chief Panico following Mr. Dalton’s disclosure of the Howton video, which Officer Fecsko attempted to prevent from coming out as evidence,” Riddle said. “There was a vendetta that was made at that point that he’s made good on.”
Riddle pointed out that the majority of witnesses disclosed it was Fecsko who approached them about signing the letter. Further, he said, all admitted they never bothered filing any kind of written reports over the behavior being testified to.
“In addition to defending these allegations here, we’ve amended a lawsuit that is active against the city of Westover to include our allegations against Chief Panico, Officer Fecsko and a few other relevant parties,” Riddle said. “That’s in regard to whistleblower protections and defamation related to the petition that was circulated.”
Neither Panico nor Fecsko were called by the city to testify on Monday.
The hearing will continue Wednesday morning in Westover City Hall.
