A former Mt. Pleasant police officer wants to know why he was fired and wants a Westmoreland County judge to force his former employer to tell him.
James Pasqualino of Latrobe filed a lawsuit this week under Pennsylvania's Right to Know Law, asking that the borough be forced to release to him a copy of his personnel file, his time cards and all written and electronic information about his job performance.
Borough officials refused to release that information to Pasqualino earlier this year and in a written response said that information was not public because it "would disclose the result of an investigation undertaken by the borough ... ," according to the suit.
It said Pasqualino, who was hired in 2006, was fired last March 4 without a hearing.
Borough Manager Jeffrey Landy on Wednesday declined to reveal the circumstances of Pasqualino's termination.
"We sent him a letter that said we decided to go in a different direction," Landy said.
That's not good enough for Pasqualino.
Two weeks after he was fired, he made a formal request, under the state's Open Records Law, asking to review his personnel file and other information related to his job performance.
Included in that request was all letters of discipline, complaints, e-mails and voice mails about his work as a police officer.
"We asked for that information and Mt. Pleasant refused to provide it," said Pasqualino's lawyer, David Colecchia.
Mt. Pleasant sent its official response, which denied many of the open records requests, on May 2.
Now, Pasqualino wants a county judge to intervene, overrule the borough and find that the information sought is eligible to be released under the state's Right to Know Law.
No hearing date has been set.
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