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Tag: Jon Marko

  • Detroit Marriott sued over alleged sexual assault and hostile work environment

    Detroit Marriott sued over alleged sexual assault and hostile work environment

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    A former employee of the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center is suing the hotel chain after she alleges she was sexually assaulted by a manager and then forced to leave her job.

    The Dearborn woman, whom Metro Times won’t identify because she was the victim of an alleged crime, claims in the lawsuit filed in Wayne County Circuit Court that the Detroit Marriott “created a sexually hostile environment” and failed to protect her.

    According to the lawsuit, manager Dhurba Koirala invited the employee to his hotel room at the end of her shift at 1 p.m. on Aug. 8 “under the guise that other employees would be present.”

    Koirala made her drinks and food, and at 7 a.m. the next day, she woke up disoriented in his bed, the lawsuit alleges. She “discovered that her underwear was inside out, and her menstruation product was missing,” according to the lawsuit, which was filed by Marko Law, a prominent Michigan civil rights firm.

    Koirala “made harmful, unlawful and offensive contact” with the employee’s body, the lawsuit alleges.

    The woman filed a police report and underwent a rape testing kit, and the DNA matched the manager, according to the suit.

    Marko says Koirala has been criminally charged.

    Every employer has an “obligation to provide a safe business environment for its staff and prevent its employees from injuring others,” her attorney Jon Marko said in a statement Monday. “Not only did Marriott breach its duty when it failed to protect our client, no person should be sexually assaulted as a condition of employment.”

    She was “forced to leave her position at Marriott as a result of this incident and has not been able to work since due to the trauma she has endured,” Marko said.

    The lawsuit alleges negligence, gross negligence, direct negligence, retaliation, hostile work environment, and violations of the Michigan Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act.

    The defendants named in the suit are Marriott International, Detroit HMS LLC, Detroit Hotel Services, Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center, and Sodexo.

    According to the suit, the hotel breached its duty because “they knew or should have known that Koirala had a history of sexually assaulting and sexually harassing employees and intentionally and willfully ignored the behavior and allowed him to assault and harass employees.”

    Metro Times couldn’t immediately reach the Marriott for comment.

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    Steve Neavling

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  • Lawsuit alleges Dearborn cop killed father of four by kneeling on his neck

    Lawsuit alleges Dearborn cop killed father of four by kneeling on his neck

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    A federal lawsuit alleges a Dearborn cop killed a 38-year-old father of four by pinning him to the ground at a motel and kneeling on his neck as he suffocated to death in September 2021.

    Salvatore “Sal” Cipolloni was in mental distress and yelling for help at the Falcon Inn Motel when the manager called the police.

    When officers Ashley Kusnir and Matthew Wilson arrived, they found Cipolloni barricaded behind an emergency exit door, according to the lawsuit, filed last week by civil rights attorney Jon Marko on behalf of the mother of Cipolloni’s four children. Cipolloni was making grunting noises and pleading for help.

    About two minutes later, Wilson grabbed Cipolloni’s left arm and shouted, “On the ground!” Wilson grabbed the back of Cipolloni’s neck and forced him to the ground, the officers’ body-worn cameras show.

    “Mr. Cipolloni was in obvious distress and kept asking to be let up,” the lawsuit states.

    Wilson ignored Cipolloni’s cries for help, and Kusnir knelt on the man’s neck while holding his wrists, according to the lawsuit. At the same time, Wilson knelt on Cipolloni’s upper legs.

    “Mr. Cipolloni’s breathing became obviously distressed,” the lawsuit states. “His breathing was faint. Mr. Cipolloni grasped for air.”

    Two minutes after Kusnir placed her knee on Cipolloni’s neck, she checked for a pulse and claimed she found one.

    click to enlarge

    Dearborn Police Department

    Body-worn camera footage shows one of the officers kneeling on Salvatore “Sal” Cipolloni’s neck.

    Cipolloni was pronounced dead later that night, and the medical examiner determined the cause of death was not natural.

    “The officers had a front-row seat to Cipolloni’s death and did not help him while Kusnir knelt on Cipolloni’s neck for over two minutes,” Marko said Monday. “They failed to render aid to Mr. Cipolloni when they should have and could have saved his life.”

    The lawsuit names the two officers and the city of Dearborn and alleges excessive force, deliberate indifference, failure to intervene, and gross negligence.

    The incident came more than a year after a Minneapolis cop murdered George Floyd by kneeling on his neck.

    “This incident, as evidenced by the video footage, unfortunately shows another instance of a police officer violating an innocent individual’s civil rights,” Marko said.

    Metro Times couldn’t reach Dearborn police for comment.

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    Steve Neavling

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