A former Groton Town police officer sidelined from his job by an injury claims that he was the target of discrimination and retaliation and that the town failed to rehire him to an office position at the police department.

Nicholas de la Cruz, 34, of Groton, claims the discrimination came both because of his race - he is of Filipino and Puerto Rican descent - and because of an injury that eventually ended his career in police work.

De la Cruz alleges in his complaint he was subjected to “various comments related to my race and ethnicity,” such as “de la Chung,” and “I ate your people’s food last night.” The complaint was filed on Aug. 10, 2022 with the Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities, the state agency that enforces laws against discrimination in the workplace.

De la Cruz alleges that a previous complaint to the town’s human resources department was closed without action because of a lack of information. It is unclear when that complaint was made. De la Cruz also claims that he was told by Groton Town Police Chief Louis J. Fusaro, prior to when the complaint to human resources was made, that “we can handle this in house.”

He additionally filed a complaint with the New London chapter of the NAACP that was made public at a Town of Groton Council meeting last week by NAACP executive board member Franca Parra-Polimeni.

Parra-Polimeni questions whether Groton Town Manager John Burt knew of the complaints and if he had informed the Town Council before a vote on a raise for Chief Fusaro in September.

“Don’t you think it’s appropriate for the council to know? It’s concerning,” Parra-Polimeni said.

Reached by phone on Monday, de la Cruz referred questions to his attorney, Marshall Segar, who was not immediately available to comment.

De la Cruz claims his injury dates back to his time at the police academy in 2014 where he sustained a neck injury. While he was able to recover and return to full duty, he re-injured the neck two other times. After an injury in October 2018 sustained during an arrest, he was never able to return to full duty and underwent cervical fusion surgery in June of 2019, he wrote in his complaint.

De la Cruz said he applied for a medical leave extension from the Town of Groton in November 2019 but was denied. His doctor, in February 2020, determined he would not be able to return to work as a police officer.

De la Cruz claims he was informed by the town it would not object to his disability pension application and was separated from the town in March 2020. However, de la Cruz said the town subsequently denied both his application for disability retirement and his chance to return to the police department to fill an open office assistant position earlier this year.

“I applied for the position because the Police Union contracts provides for continued employment (post-injury) within the department or within (the) Town as a whole,” de la Cruz wrote in his complaint.

He claims other officers have been accommodated and alleges he was the target of retaliation. De la Cruz said he applied twice for disability retirement, once with additional documentation that included a medical marijuana card.

Disability retirement benefits are available in some cases where an individual has not met service or age requirements for retirement but has a medical condition that prevents the individual from performing duties required by the job.

At the time he filed the complaint, de la Cruz said was working for the Town of Groton Board of Education as a school safety officer. He began a full-time job as a machinist at Electric Boat on June 9.

De la Cruz said he received a letter from the town on June 2, 2022, that he must claim his pension contribution by June 30, 2022, despite his request to not “cash out” until he had finalized matters with the town. He also was never granted an interview, he claims, for a position in town he applied for on June 30.

He received his pension pay out on Aug. 3.

The Day has a pending request with the town for documentation related to de la Cruz’s application for disability retirement benefits and his employment applications.

Town Manager John Burt said he would not comment on a personnel matter.

Nicholas de la Cruz is a relative of State Rep. Joe de la Cruz, D-Groton, who said he was not involved in the case.

g.smith@theday.com