The City of Muncie and Mayor Dennis Tyler issued a statement about former Muncie Police Chief Stephen Stewart's lawsuit, calling the suit "wholly without merit."
The lawsuit was initially filed in regards to a request Tyler had for MPD to launch an investigation.
In a press release issued Thursday, attorney for the City of Muncie Megan Quirk announced that the city had filed its answer and motion for judgement regarding the suit.
Stewart, who resigned in October 2016, filed a lawsuit against the City of Muncie in October 2017.
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According to previous Daily News reports, Stewart said Tyler and Democratic party figure Phil Nichols repeatedly asked him to conduct an MPD investigation of a city employee who was believed to be cooperating with the FBI's investigation.
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According to the press release, parts of the city's answer "warrant attention."
For example, the lawsuit is "subject to dismissal" because of discrepancies between Stewart's filing and the city's answer.
Additionally, the release states that on Oct. 20, 2016, city police employee made a verbal complaint against Stewart for sexual harassment, retaliation and abuse of power.
Sarah Beach, the employee, made the complaint to Tyler, presenting him with a stack of printed emails and said they contained evidence of unspecified possible crimes, according to previous Daily News reports.
An attorney for the city requested Stewart give a written statement of events for the city’s internal investigation.
Stewart said he would the next day, but never gave a statement, according to the press release.
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