Flint police officer promoted to six-figure job despite sexually harassing female colleague

A police detective has been promoted to a six-figure position despite sexually harassing a female colleague for more than a year and then using his influence to cover up his abuse, which included lewd text messages and shoving his groin in her face.

Tyrone Booth subjected Mary Buszek to a campaign of sexual harassment in late 2017 while they were both employees of the Flint, Michigan police department.

Court documents obtained by DailyMail.com show that Booth has since been promoted to department spokesman, and remains in the position, despite Buszek recently receiving $175,000 in an internal settlement.

During Booth’s campaign of terror against Buszek, she was threatened with demotion, demeaning investigations, and threatened with dismissal after complaining about Booth’s behavior. She then allegedly used her influence with police chiefs and the City Council to cover up the abuse.

The rise of the complaint filing comes as the city of Flint agreed last month to pay more than $360,000 to resolve the sexual harassment and racial discrimination claims of at least five current and former employees.

The huge internal settlement has since been criticized by Flint city councilor Eric Mays, who told DailyMail.com: “The settlement will prevent any further facts that will humiliate the department from coming to light.”

Former detective Mary Buszek, pictured, was awarded $175,000 after being sexually harassed by Booth

Mary Buszek was subjected to a year of sexual harassment, with Booth asking her to perform oral sex on him and shoving his groin into her face. When she refused her advances, he waged a campaign against her using her influence with her superiors and was eventually demoted and suspended.

Buszek first filed a lawsuit against the police department in 2019, but details of the abuse he suffered are only now coming to light after the city paid him a settlement.

In the court filing, it is alleged that Booth had close ties to the force’s higher-ups, which allowed him to remain in his role as the department’s media spokesperson.

In particular, Booth was called the ‘golden child’ and the ‘right-hand man’ of former Flint Police Chief Timothy Johnson. Booth was also known as Deputy Chief Devon Bernritter’s best friend and best man at his wedding.

The complaint report alleges that Booth began sexually harassing Buszek in October 2017, through phone calls and text messages “asking him to perform oral sex on him.”

In December, Booth approached her while she was sitting at her desk, where he “intentionally pushed her pelvic area” into her face.

After she rebuffed his advances, Booth used his influence within the department and on City Hall to demote and attempt to fire Buszek, despite his loyal 10 years on the force.

After rejecting Booth, Buszek “began receiving unfair and fabricated disciplines.” One of those punishments, called “ridiculous” by the official report, said the department investigated her over an anonymous complaint of being rude.

In 2018, she was also reassigned from the Detective Bureau to patrol before being suspended based on an anonymous insider allegation that she “assaulted” another officer a month later, according to court documents.

After reporting the issue in October 2019, she was put through a meeting where a superior was “mean, loud, berating and belittling” towards her, and told she “absolutely shouldn’t have (reported the abuse), and now she knows better in the future.

Following the threat that she would “know better in the future,” the report alleges that Buszek faced severe retaliation from department heads, while Booth remained in her role as spokesperson.

The report alleges that Booth used his influence as a close friend of former department head Timothy Johnson, pictured, to get revenge on the officer who filed the complaints.

Included in this is that she was demoted from the force’s detective bureau despite her decade on the force, which came with a substantial decrease in salary.

Following a closed-door vote that agreed to pay out the $360,000 settlement to various city employees, including $175,000 to Buszek, Councilman Eric Mays criticized the decision for covering up details that could have been “humiliating” for the police department.

He told DailyMail.com: ‘I did not vote for the deal. In my opinion, if he had gone to trial it would have been a shame.

Booth is still there. I believe the agreement will prevent facts from coming to light that will humiliate the department.

“I know that the agreement conceals facts that go beyond Tyrone Booth, and worse things would have come out at trial.

‘People have a right to know, and the facts must come out.’

While many of those named in the startling complaint report have been removed from their positions, fired or resigned, Booth was rewarded with a promotion.

The emergence of the complaint comes after the city of Flint partially accepted a lawsuit for $360,000 amid allegations of racial discrimination and sexual harassment earlier this month.

The lawsuit was initially brought by 17 current or former Flint employees against the city, former boss Tim Johnson and former Flint Human Resources Director Makini Jackson.

The city administrators said ABC12: ‘This discrimination lawsuit has been public since 2019, when it was filed against the Weaver administration.

‘The allegations in the lawsuit were never proven, and in 2020, many of those allegations were dropped after the City moved to remove the most egregiously unsubstantiated allegations.

“Since other claims in that case are still on trial, we will not comment further on the ongoing litigation.”