Teresa Williams thought she had landed her dream job in Iron Mountain, Michigan, becoming the first female officer in the rural town’s police department’s history.
But she was continually harassed and assaulted over the course of four and a half years, according to a federal lawsuit filed last month against three Iron Mountain executives who eventually resigned.
According to the suit, within weeks of being hired in October 2017, she was forced to make out with her direct supervisor at a bar. The suit says the supervisor and Williams’ former patrol partner also bet on who could have sex with him first.
“I wish someone would come forward and take action — like hold these people accountable,” she said Thursday. “Just because you wear a badge and you’re a cop, doesn’t mean you’re above the law. It doesn’t mean you get to treat people the way you want to and break the law.” And do whatever they want.
Williams, 35, also talked about Iron Mountain, a tight-knit community of about 7,500 residents in the Upper Peninsula that borders Wisconsin.
“I want, especially the community of Iron Mountain, to know that I am doing this because they have a right to know … what they have and who is going to protect and serve them,” she said. Said.
‘It is appalling that these individual officers are able to act with such impunity’
The lawsuit alleges sexual harassment, sex discrimination, hostile work environment and retaliation. Named as defendants are the department’s top two supervisors, Ed Mattson, director of police and fire services, and Joseph Dumis, deputy director of police services. Garth Budek, Williams’ former patrol partner, is the third officer named as a defendant. Also named as defendants are the city and police department.
Gregory Grant, an attorney representing all defendants, said in a statement Thursday: “I am unable to provide any comment regarding specific allegations or details at this time because the matter is pending. There are two sides to every story.” And my clients look forward to presenting the facts in court. At the same time, the City of Iron Mountain has always been committed to creating a safe and dignified work environment for all of its employees.
The Police Officers’ Labor Council, the union that represents Iron Mountain officers, could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Williams’ attorney, Jack Schultz, said he believes police in Iron Mountain are insulated from the checks-and-balances system of powerful accountability available in large communities.
“It was his dream job in his hometown,” he said. “A lot of agencies and things set up to regulate and monitor rural areas like this in Michigan are overlooked and focused on large municipalities.”
He said: “It is appalling that these individual officers are able to act with such impunity. I am proud to represent them, but I am saddened to see that I have nowhere to turn. “
Schultz and Williams said that none of the three respondent officers have faced discipline or been under criminal investigation.
A representative for the Dickinson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office declined to comment Thursday.
An initiation ceremony that included a fireball shot and making out
The lawsuit states that Williams was invited to a bar only weeks after she was hired. She was excited about the opportunity to bond with her new colleagues.
However, at the bar, Dumais pressured her to shot a fireball as part of an initiation ritual and make out with him, according to the suit.
Plaintiffs refused and said the whole thing was made up. Dumas responded that it was necessary and everyone had to do it as standard protocol. To allegedly demonstrate, Dumas hired a former county dispatcher ( male) and then kissed her. Eventually, Plaintiff succumbed to the pressure and took the ‘IMPD shot’ with Dumais, who, as a result, kissed Plaintiff and stated that she was now ‘officially part of the IMPD’, ” the lawsuit said.
Later at the bar, Dumis asked for another shot with Williams, according to the suit. The suit states that before she relented, she repeatedly denied the first time a co-worker touched her.
“Dumis pressured Plaintiff to take a second IMPD shot, however, this time Dumis placed his hand between Plaintiff’s legs and grasped her genitals,” it says.
In another instance, Williams dropped Budek home after a night at a bar, where he forced himself on her and touched her genitals down his pants, according to the suit. The lawsuit states that he groped her and kissed her against her will.
‘Tired of hearing her sad story’
Williams said that in early 2020 someone told her that she would be fired and that Dumas was telling people outside the department that she was not going to be around “much longer,” according to the suit.
By October of that year, the lawsuit said, Williams was asked to meet with Dumais at his office with its doors closed. Williams said she did not want to be alone in the room with him and asked if someone else could join them, to which Dumis said no, according to the suit. Before he told her to leave, Dumis yelled that he was “sick and tired of hearing her pity story,” the suit says.
During Williams’ tenure, Budek was promoted to sergeant and Dumis was promoted to deputy director of police services—the second-highest position in the department.
Williams was subsequently suspended several times, accused of unprofessional activity, such as failing to answer the radio to a call about a hit-and-run, the lawsuit says, unlike her male counterparts. No disciplinary action will be taken against him.
In March 2022, Williams met with Mattson and Dumais to discuss a range of topics, including officers talking about him outside the department and ongoing harassment against him, the suit says. The tone of the meeting was not favorable to Williams but more sympathetic to Budek, according to the suit.
“Mattson said Budek was ‘struggling emotionally’ and wanted to ‘come out to his wife,'” the suit states. “Mattson continued that he perceives work-related incidents as ‘fully clothed tangents’ and that he ‘doesn’t care about anything that happened elsewhere.’ sexual harassment and assault of an officer on a subordinate),” the lawsuit says.
Shortly thereafter, she was told she would be fired if she did not resign, according to the suit. She left in April.
‘My work was everything to me’
Williams said Thursday that she is speaking out so that the voices of women and other victims of sexual assault and harassment can be heard.
She recalled that even as a child, she was breaking barriers as only the other girl who played soccer at her Wisconsin high school. As a secondary, he played defensive end and on the offensive line on the junior varsity team, he said.
Williams said it was that type of feeling that inspired her to become a police officer in an all-men’s department.
He remembered the good times in uniform.
She beamed with pride talking about how she once pulled an elderly woman out of a car that had turned upside down after an accident.
“I was the only person small enough to crawl through that back window. I took off my vest, my duty belt… and I crawled inside,” she said.
Her voice broke when she told him she could never serve as an officer again.
“I would love to be able to go back and be a police officer. I really would. My job was everything to me,” Williams said while trying to hold back tears. “Unfortunately, I believe, our In small towns, no one would hire me back.”