Superintendent, Rhode Island State Police Director, Col. James Manni, [The Providence Journal/Steve Szydlowski] ▲

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PROVIDENCE -- A state police lieutenant's claims that his superiors pressured him to alter a job applicant's background report can head to trial.

U.S. District Court Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr. has ruled that a jury should decide whether Lt. Michael Casey's commanders violated his rights under the Rhode Island Whistleblowers' Protection Act by harassing him and retaliating against him after he revealed potential corruption by the state police.

In rejecting a motion to dismiss the claims, McConnell found that Casey had raised sufficient allegations that he had been assigned to night shifts, had his vehicle and weapon removed, threatened with discipline, ostracized and defamed.

McConnell did, however, dismiss Casey's claims that his First Amendment rights had been violated, finding instead that his statements were made not as a public citizen but in the course of his official duties.

McConnell ordered that all discovery be completed in the case by Oct. 1.

Casey, a 25-year veteran of the force, sued state police Col. James Manni and three supervisors in federal court in June alleging he had been coerced, unsuccessfully, to change his background report on an applicant: Garrett Demers, son of retired Capt. James Demers.

Casey did not recommend Demers to become a recruit because, he said, he had discovered Demers had more than two dozen interactions with police in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, including vehicle crashes and a disorderly conduct arrest at Six Flags New England in 2013.

In April 2018, Casey said, he was ordered to report to state police headquarters, in Scituate, for a meeting with then-Lt. Col. Joseph Philbin, Maj. Dennis Fleming and now retired Detective Cmdr. Gerald M. McKinney.

Casey alleges that Philbin ordered him to rewrite his background report on Demers, omitting references to the previous police interactions.

When he refused, Casey says, he was ostracized by the command staff and assigned to the night shift. In September 2018 he filed an internal complaint and alerted then-Col. Ann Assumpico to the "subversive tactics" and pressure being placed on him. Soon thereafter he went on sick leave.

Assumpico issued a statement denying the allegations Casey had made.

Casey returned to full duty in January after some 15 months on paid sick leave.

James Demers is at the center of probe into whether House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello broke the law when he called for an audit of the Rhode Island Convention Center Authority.

Demers, a friend of Mattiello, had worked as the security chief at the convention center.

kmulvane@providencejournal.com

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On Twitter: @kmulvane