CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A New Hampshire town’s first full-time female police officer has filed a discrimination lawsuit saying she was the target of harassment, including when a colleague used a stun gun on her and then wrote on her forehead while she was disabled.

Kimberly Hatch, who worked for the Ossipee Police Department for six years, alleges she was “repeatedly subjected to gender-based harassment/comments” by fellow department employees, New Hampshire Public Radio reported.

Hatch was hired in 2012. She said in the lawsuit in 2013, a colleague used a stun gun device on the back of her neck. He then took a permanent marker and wrote on her forehead while she was disabled. The lawsuit doesn’t specify what was written, and Hatch’s attorney declined to comment further.


The lawsuit against the town of Ossipee was filed in federal court in Concord this week. An email message seeking comment was left for a lawyer who represents the town.

She said she was afraid to file complaints about the treatment she received “because she had been told on numerous occasions” that she was free to find somewhere else to work.

Hatch said she was fired in October 2018 after a dispute over damage to a police cruiser.