Former Medicine Hat police chief suing City of Medicine Hat

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Former Medicine Hat police chief Mike Worden has launched a lawsuit seeking close to $2 million in damages from the City of Medicine Hat, its police service, three officers who served during his tenure and a woman he admits he was in a romantic relationship with in 2022.

Worden took over as Medicine Hat’s police chief in January 2021 after 25 years with the Calgary Police Service, but resigned as the southeastern Alberta city’s top law enforcement officer in May 2022.

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Worden, who earned roughly $225,000 per year and had a five-year employment contract with the City of Medicine Hat, is seeking damages totalling $1.85 million, including $250,000 for reputational harm and personal injury, $560,000 for lost past and future income from the City of Medicine Hat, $1 million for loss of future income and $40,000 for out-of-pocket expenses, including the sale of his Medicine Hat home at a loss and the cost of moving back to Calgary.

In a statement of claim filed March 1, 2024, in Medicine Hat Court of King’s Bench, Worden alleges that Noel Darr, Brent Secondiak and Carissa Witkowski, Medicine Hat police officers during Worden’s tenure, and Sashia Stiere, with whom Worden admits he had a romantic relationship from about August 2021 until November 2021, conspired for months in 2022 to harass and defame Worden, damage his reputation and force him to resign from the Medicine Hat Police Service.

At the same time Worden and Stiere were in a romantic relationship, Stiere was also in a romantic relationship with Darr, says the statement of claim.

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Worden alleges there was an attempt to blackmail him in March 2022, when Secondiak informed Worden that several unnamed MHPS employees were in possession of “embarrassing sexual related electronic messages” between Worden and an “unnamed individual” who Worden says he later learned was Stiere.

“Secondiak advised Worden that these employees intended to report the Messages to the Medicine Hat Police Commission and to the Medicine Hat City Counsel (sic) unless Worden agreed to resign from the MHPS,” says the statement of claim. “Worden became concerned that Secondiak was part of a conspiracy to use the Messages as blackmail to force him to resign.”

Worden notified the police commission about the blackmail attempt and asked the commission to speak with Secondiak “to get further particulars,” says the statement of claim.

Worden also says there was a false harassment complaint against Worden, with the police commission clearing him in May 2022. A third-party investigation found no wrongdoing on Worden’s part after the alleged complainant told the commission she did not make a complaint, says the statement of claim.

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But Worden believed the situation had affected his ability to lead the Medicine Hat Police Service and resigned as police chief effective May 26, 2022.

The City of Medicine Hat knew or ought to have known that “the conspirators” had launched a “harassment campaign” against Worden, says the statement of claim.

“The City of Medicine Hat did not take appropriate steps to stop it or to assist in mitigating the harm to Worden’s reputation,” it says. “Accordingly, the City of Medicine Hat shares liability for the harm committed by the conspirators.”

The City of Medicine Hat breached Worden’s employment contract by failing to provide a reasonably safe work environment, and breached its duty of care toward Worden by failing to investigate allegations against him and failing to make a reasonable attempt to prevent or mitigate the reputational harm he was suffering, says the statement of claim.

“The defendant’s misconduct has caused Worden to suffers from health problems, and has destroyed his professional reputation as a police officer,” it says. “Worden has not found work as a police officer since” he resigned as Medicine Hat’s police chief almost two years ago.

The allegations contained in the statement of claim have not been proven in court. A statement of defence has yet to be filed with the Medicine Hat Court of King’s Bench.

The City of Medicine Hat declined to comment Thursday due to the matter being before the courts.

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