Jehovah's Witness files second suit over his firing as a Boston cop for refusing Covid-19 shots, tests

A former Boston cop who sued the city over his firing in state court in 2022 last week filed a similar suit in federal court - but added the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association to his list of defendants he says did him wrong.

In his newest suit, filed in US District Court in Boston, Saviel Colón charges the city deprived him of a number of his constitutional rights, including his religious, due process and equal-protection rights and his right against discrimination on the basis of race and disabilities, and that the union joined in by allegedly opposing his efforts to keep his job. He is seeking actual and punitive damages against both the city and the union.

Colón argues the city knew he was a Jehovah's Witness when it hired him as a BPD officer in 2019 and that it could have made reasonable accommodations so that he could continue working even without being vaccinated - or even tested via the swabs in use during the early days of the pandemic - which he says would have violated his religious beliefs and made him "unholy." Besides:

To stay healthy, Mr. Colón maintains a vegetarian diet and uses natural remedies like honey, garlic, ginger, herbs, and teas instead of foreign substances. Mr. Colón also exercises regularly to keep his body strong and ensure that he does not get sick.

The suit names Boston Public Health Executive Director Bisola Ojikutu, who is Black, proved racist against Black employees such as Colón because she routinely refused to grant their requests for vaccination exemptions out of her concern over low vaccination rates in the Black community.

And it names Boston Police Patrolmen's Association President Larry Calderone for allegedly refusing to support Colón in his effort to win an exemption against Covid-19 testing with swabs, which the suit claims was "akin to forcing a Muslim to eat a bacon sandwich while awaiting a religious exemption on eating pork."

Calderone told Mr. Colón that he supports Boston’s position on the testing policy, and that he did not understand why it was such a big deal to Mr. Colón. In a mocking fashion, Calderone told Mr. Colón that he voluntarily tests himself for COVID-19 every five days.

The emphasis on rights deprivation makes the suit different from the state one in Suffolk Superior Court, which alleges various contract issues and the alleged fact that ordering him to get vaccinated amounted to assault.

The federal suit was filed by attorney Illya Feoktisov of Boston. Colón was originally represented by Richard Chambers of Lynnfield - who has filed numerous Covid-19 suits - but Colón replaced him with Feoktisov sometime after a Suffolk Superior Court judge terminated the suit in March, 2023 because the city had not been served a copy of the complaint in time. The judge later gave Chambers additional time to serve the city, which he did, although the case is still marked as "closed" on the court docket. In that suit, Chambers said his client was seeking at least $2 million in damages.

Chambers also represented Colón - and a number of other people - in a failed suit against the city over its brief requirement to show proof of vaccination for admission to various public locales. Colón, seeking $6 million in that case, said the requirement kept him from taking his kids to the zoo and other locations; the judge said he failed to prove damages because he never showed he was actually denied entry anywhere.

Complete complaint (1.8M PDF).