Overview
- Police Chief Donna McNamara filed a civil suit on Monday saying the town and Town Manager Thomas Calter breached her contract and trying to force her out after she was placed off duty about three weeks ago.
- The complaint alleges Calter repeatedly harassed McNamara because she is a woman and demanded she destroy a second internal affairs report into the 2021 Sandra Birchmore case, which she says she refused to do.
- A Norfolk Superior Court judge scheduled a hearing for Friday to consider McNamara’s request to be allowed to return to work or to require the town to provide a lawful reason for her removal.
- Stoughton Firefighters Local 1512 publicly backed McNamara and said it filed a complaint with the Massachusetts Department of Labor Relations, and dozens of residents have rallied for the chief while the Select Board held a closed executive session to discuss the dispute.
- The dispute ties to a reopened probe of Birchmore’s death that drew FBI involvement and a change to the medical examiner’s finding, and it raises questions about town governance, workplace culture, and public-safety oversight in Stoughton.