St. Paul Police Chief Sues City's First Female Mayor for Harassment and Retaliation

St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry is taking the city's first female mayor to court, filing a 73-page civil lawsuit that accuses Mayor Kaohly Her of repeated sexual harassment, unwanted physical contact and a retaliatory campaign carried out after he reported her conduct. The suit, filed in Ramsey County District Court, names both Her and the City of St. Paul as defendants. It arrives less than a week after the city released a summary of its internal investigation into the mayor's behavior.

The filing is the sharpest turn yet in a months-long dispute that has divided Minnesota's capital city and left its police chief and its mayor on opposite sides of a courtroom. Henry alleges the harassment was not isolated, describing a pattern of comments and conduct aimed at him and other members of the St. Paul Police Department.

A 73-Page Filing Against the Mayor and the City

The complaint lays out a timeline that stretches from workplace jokes and pranks to physical contact. It accuses Her of photoshopping the faces of Henry and other department personnel onto the semi-nude bodies of bodybuilders and mixed martial arts fighters. It also says the mayor surprised Henry and a sergeant at a golf simulator in Woodbury while they were on vacation time.

The suit states that Her referred to herself as a "MILF" and that she touched Henry's upper thigh beneath a conference-room table -- not once, but twice -- during a city budget meeting. Henry's claim describes the contact as unwanted and nonconsensual.

Henry filed a formal sexual harassment complaint against the mayor in March after learning of her comments toward other officers, including a text exchange that became known around City Hall as "Weiner Wednesday." The complaint also recounts an instance in which Her allegedly asked a former deputy chief, "How do my boobs look?"

In the documents, Henry describes the moment he came forward as a career risk he took anyway, saying he understood he was effectively ending his career and that he was, in his words, "jumping out of a plane without a parachute."

Allegations of a Retaliation Campaign

The heart of the lawsuit is not only what Henry says happened before he reported the conduct, but what he says happened after. The filing accuses the mayor's administration and the city of orchestrating a campaign to retaliate against him once he filed his formal complaint in March.

According to the complaint, Henry met with the city attorney and the first assistant mayor after filing. What followed, the suit claims, was a coordinated effort to undercut him professionally and to control how the public learned about the allegations.

"Axel Henry is an honorable man and a dedicated public servant. He didn't come forward for attention or advantage -- he came forward because what happened was wrong and needed to be reported," Henry's attorney, Chris Madel, said in a statement. "We look forward to proving our allegations in a court of law, where all evidence, not some sanitized summary written by the City about itself, can finally be heard."

The case lands during a broader run of misconduct fights involving public officials, including the House Ethics Committee's review of an ethics probe into Rep. Jimmy Gomez over separate allegations. The common thread is a public that is increasingly unwilling to let officials settle these matters behind closed doors.

The Investigation the City Released -- and What It Left Out

The lawsuit was filed less than a week after St. Paul released a summary of its internal investigation into the mayor's conduct. That summary concluded that Her had acted inappropriately toward police department employees but did not substantiate claims of sexual harassment.

The city's human resources director said Henry's sexual harassment allegations were unsubstantiated. The full investigative report, however, has not been made public.

That gap is now a central demand of the lawsuit. The filing argues that releasing a summary instead of the complete report denied the public and the chief a full account of what investigators found, calling the shortened version retaliation against Henry for reporting the mayor's conduct and for continuing to press his complaint. The suit formally demands the release of the full report.

Matt Wagenius, a spokesman for the mayor, told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that the city does not comment on pending litigation. "An independent investigation did not substantiate claims of sexual harassment or retaliation against any city employee," Wagenius said. "The Mayor will continue to lead Saint Paul and follow the recommendations of the report."

What Happens Next

The case now moves into the discovery phase, where both sides will have to produce documents, internal communications and the underlying investigative file. That process is likely to pull the full report into public view one way or another, whether through a court order or through exhibits filed along the way.

Henry's position as the city's top law enforcement officer adds unusual weight to the dispute. A sitting chief suing the mayor who oversees his department raises immediate questions about authority, chain of command and how the police department functions while the litigation proceeds.

For Her, the suit is a political as well as legal problem. St. Paul elected its first female mayor with a mandate to lead the city, and the allegations now sit at the center of her tenure. The city's handling of the investigation -- and its refusal so far to release the complete findings -- will face scrutiny from the city council, the public and now a judge.

Neither side has signaled a willingness to settle. Henry's attorneys say they want a courtroom, and the mayor's office says it will follow the report's recommendations. What comes next will be decided in Ramsey County, with the full investigative record as the first battleground.