WILKES-BARRE — A part‐time police officer is suing the Borough of Ashley and Donald Sipple Sr., citing alleged harassment and illegal hiring.
Jeremy Talanca filed a complaint on Nov. 12 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania against the defendants, alleging deprivation of First Amendment rights of free speech.
According to the complaint, the plaintiff alleges that in 2017, he opposed defendant Sipple's mayoral candidacy. In or around March through April, on at least seven occasions, he requested an application for the vacant full‐time police officer, but was denied an application, the suit says.
The plaintiff holds the Borough of Ashley and Donald Sipple Sr. responsible because the defendants failed to train its officials to not retaliate against citizens when they engaged in free speech and refused to hire him for a full‐time position. Instead, Talanca claims, a friend of Sipple's was illegally hired for the position. Talanca has suffered mental anxiety, stress and sleeplessness, he says.
The plaintiff requests a trial by jury and seeks compensatory and punitive damages, attorney fees costs, interest and delay damages. He is represented by Cynthia Pollick of Cynthia L. Pollick LLM in Pittston.
The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania Case No. is 3:18-cv-02184-ARC.