Pittsburgh set to settle lawsuit filed by former cop for $250K

Pittsburgh officials are poised to settle a 2018 lawsuit filed by a former Pittsburgh police officer who alleges police officials harassed him and retaliated against him for investigating a company that provided the department with costly software upgrades that either weren’t used or did not work.

The $250,000 settlement, recommended by city Solicitor Yvonne Hilton, appears on the agenda for Tuesday’s City Council meeting, when a private session can be scheduled to discuss terms of the settlement.

The former officer, Souroth Chatterji, wasn’t aware until a reporter contacted him that the agreement was before council. Chatterji’s attorneys, Alec B. Wright and Timothy P. O’Brien, didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

Chatterji, 36, is a U.S. Army veteran who served two tours in Iraq. He started working as a police officer in 2012 and was with the department until he resigned in June 2018 for unspecified reasons about four months after he filed the whistleblower lawsuit in federal court.

Chatterji alleges that in 2015, former Chief Cameron McLay ordered him to investigate the police bureau’s information technology system to see if software provided by B-Three Solutions, a firm based in Plum, performed up to industry standards.

Beginning in 2006, B-Three provided the bureau with numerous software upgrades, including police cruiser computer systems and systems permitting detectives to share information about homicide investigations and other high-profile crimes.

Chatterji reported the software was either never implemented, did not work or vastly exceeded the cost of similar systems, according to the lawsuit.

After McLay left the department in 2016, Chatterji alleges he was harassed by other police brass and was denied a promotion to sergeant despite being the top qualified applicant, according to the suit.

When the suit was filed, B-Three president Michael Walton said the company is bound by a nondisclosure agreement with the city, but he called the allegations “baseless and groundless.”

“B-Three is a company that prides itself in professionalism and integrity in all aspects of business with its customers, including the city of Pittsburgh,” he said in an email.

Tim McNulty, a spokesman for Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, declined comment because it is a legal matter. Pittsburgh Public Safety officials didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment.