Policeman awarded half a MILLION in sexual harassment suit after 'his female boss put her blouse over his head and forced his head into her breasts'



A former Texas deputy constable who claimed he was sexually harassed by his female boss has been awarded $567,000 by a Galveston County jury.



Galveston County Constable Pam Matranga, who has been at the post since 2005, was accused by James Gist, 55, of numerous sexually suggestive actions and comments during her time as his boss.

In one instance, Gist says Matranga put her shirt over his head, forcing him to 'motorboat' her breasts.

Harassment: Former officers claimed Matranga would put her shirt over them and make lewd comments

He alleged the harassment took place from May 2011 to October 2011.



Motorboating is a sexual act made famous in a diatribe by Vince Vaughn in the 2005 film Wedding Crashers.

Gist told Houston’s Local 2 : '[She was] grabbing her breasts and saying, "here, hold these." She walked up behind me and pulled her shirt over my head and held me kind of in a headlock with her shirt.'

His lawsuit also alleges that Matranga asked if she could perform oral sex on him and once joked about performing at nearby strip clubs during 'chunky chick night' while simulating a lap dance.



Gist told the station that he never reciprocated her advances, and planted a camera on his desk in an attempt to catch Matranga.



B ut he said she found the camera, deleted the video and notified the Galveston County District Attorney's Office, which began a wiretapping investigation against him.

In the end, Gist said he was forced to quit.

Matranga denies the allegations.

Winner: Gist was awarded more than half a million dollars by a Texas jury for his sexual harassment suit

In a statement to Click2Houston.com, she said: 'I never sexually harassed anyone. I would never intentionally hurt anyone. I have never tampered with evidence in my whole nineteen years with the county.'

Gist's attorney, Anthony Griffin, said that the jury didn't see Matranga's gender as an excuse.

'They rejected this whole notion that you get away with it because you are a female,' Griffin told the Houston Chronicle.



He further said that Gist was awarded $200,000 more than he asked for.

Matranga maintained the verdict was unfair and called the lawsuit revenge for refusing to promote Gist.

In addition, she told the Galveston Daily News that Gist is trying to get back at her for not altering a 'legal document as he requested.'

She told the paper that she 'was good to [Gist] and took care of him like anyone on my staff.'

'It was a circus for the last two years,' she said.

The lawsuit was filed only days before her bid for election in 2012, which she last after eight years as constable.

While Matranga admitted to putting some officers 'under the shirt' she claimed Gist's suit was retribution for failing to receive a promotion

'It was a horrible, horrible time,' she said. 'Mr. Gist said he would make my life a living hell and that's what he did.'

Now she only wants to move on with her life.

'It's over, we closed the door,' she said. 'I wish everybody good luck.'

While she admitted during testimony that she did joke with Gist about his 'chunky chick night' at a strip club where she might perform, she said she had no memory attempting a lap dance at his office chair.



She also denied pulling her blouse over his head, even if she did do it to some deputies.

'If anybody was in a bad mood, like if Phil was in a bad mood, I would say, 'Phil,' or to anyone, 'Do you need to go under the shirt?," she said in a deposition.

She claimed that as Gist found that behavior 'creepy' she did not do it to him.

Two former employees also testified to going 'under the shirt' as well as seeing her regularly use profanity and talk about her body.



The county will be solely responsible for the damages.



According to Griffin, the county argued it should bear no responsibility as Gist did not complain to Human Resources.

