Middletown Mayor starts proceedings to fire transgender police officer Letter says transgender officer ‘unfit for duty’

Middletown Police Officer Francesca Quaranta is seen in her Newington home in this Press file photo. Middletown Police Officer Francesca Quaranta is seen in her Newington home in this Press file photo. Photo: Middletown Press File Photo Photo: Middletown Press File Photo Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Middletown Mayor starts proceedings to fire transgender police officer 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

MIDDLETOWN >> The city has begun proceedings to fire its third police officer of the year.

In a letter dated June 4, Mayor Daniel Drew wrote to Officer Francesca Quaranta indicating that he was beginning the process of terminating her employment.

In the letter Drew said that a Dr. Nancy Randall had found Quaranta unfit to return to duty during a March 11 evaluation and, as such, the city had moved Quaranta from the paid administrative leave she had been on and placed her on sick leave.

“Despite the fact that Kathleen Morey, the Director of Human Resources, met with you and your union representative to discuss all vacancies within the City at that time, you expressed at a mediation that you were not interested in any such positions unless the City would subsidize any difference in pay, which would, of course, subject the City to liability and grievances from other employees,” wrote Drew.

Drew said that Morey wrote to Quaranta twice to notify Quaranta that she would have to undergo a second evaluation with Randall on June 2, as her accrued sick time was almost up.

“Despite your attorney’s claims that this additional evaluation was intended to be ‘harassing’ and ‘retaliatory,’ the purpose of the re-evaluation was to determine if there had been any positive changes in your status in the past few months that may have allowed you to return to work as a police officer,” wrote Drew.

Atiya Sample and Josephine Miller, attorneys who have represented Quaranta, were not available for comment Monday.

Although she declined to comment Monday, Quaranta said she intends to respond to the city’s assertions in the days to come.

Drew wrote that he was beginning termination proceedings because Quaranta was out of sick time, she was not interested in other city positions and Randall had ruled her unfit for police duty but, absent those reasons, she would have been “subject to discipline, up to and including termination, for what amounts to insubordination” for missing her June 2 appointment.

The mayor has scheduled a Loudermill hearing for Quaranta for June 20 to offer her “an opportunity to respond to these matters.”

Quaranta, who is transgender, first began working for the Middletown Police Department in September 2004. Before that, she worked for the Rocky Hill and Seymour police departments.

In previous interviews with the Press, Quaranta has said that, in the two years since she revealed her gender identity to her coworkers, she has faced hostility and discrimination. She said she stopped using department locker rooms in order to put at ease those fellow officers who did not understand or accept her transition, but that hostility at work and criticism from her supervisors kept increasing nonetheless.

Quaranta filed a complaint with the state Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities. An internal investigation by the city determined that Quaranta’s claim had been unfounded.

Quaranta is also embroiled in an ongoing external investigation into Chief William McKenna. Several former police officers have implied that McKenna solicited prescription narcotics in the past.

She has also applied for an alcohol education program following a December 2013 arrest for driving while intoxicated.

In February of this year, the city fired former Lieutenant and then-Officer Christopher Lavoie for unexcused absences and violating city rules and a collective bargaining agreement.

Two weeks prior, the city had let go Officer Gino Pulvirenti on the grounds that he had misrepresented a disability and broken both department and city rules.

The city announced in October 2013 that both former officers and others had accused McKenna, either directly or indirectly, of soliciting drugs. Drew and McKenna said that they would expect officers to immediately address improper behavior by a police chief. Both officers had been under investigation at that point, and Quaranta had been on administrative leave.

The Press obtained the mayor’s letter to Quaranta in the course of an information request for an earlier article. The mayor has previously told the Press that Quaranta had been “a great officer.”