The defendants in a $2 million harassment and defamation lawsuit brought by a former Medicine Hat police chief argue that a local police officer, facing a criminal charge of attempted obstruction of justice, should bear responsibility if the court rules in favor of the plaintiff. Mike Worden, who served with the Calgary Police Service for 25 years before becoming the top cop in Medicine Hat, initiated the lawsuit in 2024. Allegations in the lawsuit claim that over a six-month period in 2022, Worden was subjected to a deliberate campaign of harassment and blackmail in an attempt to force his resignation. Worden stated that his former colleagues falsely accused him of sexual misconduct to coworkers, the police commission, and journalists, leading to his resignation just 16 months into his five-year contract. The defendants named in the lawsuit include a woman with whom Worden had a brief, consensual relationship, as well as three officers from the Medicine Hat Police Service: Brent Secondiak, Carissa Witkowski, and Constable Noel Darr. The City of Medicine Hat and the current police chief are also listed as defendants, as is customary in workplace-related lawsuits involving a police officer. Darr is currently facing a criminal charge for obstruction of justice.
Four of the defendants – the city, police chief, Secondiak, and Witkowski – have filed a third-party claim arguing that if Worden suffered damages, they were solely caused by Darr’s actions outside the scope of his employment. The defendants have denied all allegations in Worden’s lawsuit and have requested its dismissal. However, they assert that they should not be held vicariously liable for Darr’s actions, stating that his conduct breached the standards of a police officer with the Medicine Hat Police Service. Darr, aged 57, was charged with obstruction of justice last summer for allegedly attempting to tamper with a witness in Medicine Hat between February 2022 and November 2023. The Edmonton Police Service, which brought the charge, did not confirm whether it was related to the allegations in Worden’s lawsuit but mentioned that the investigation commenced after a complaint from a former MHPS employee in February 2022. Trial dates for Darr have been scheduled for May 2027.
Darr has not submitted a statement of defense in the civil suit. None of the claims made in the lawsuit have been proven in court. The lawsuit alleges that the three officers conspired to depict Worden falsely as engaging in inappropriate sexual behavior with women. The defendants include a woman, Sashia Stiere, with whom Worden had a brief relationship. Stiere, who also had a prior relationship with Darr, admitted to sharing her text messages with Darr, which she found disturbing, without her consent. Stiere denied colluding with the other defendants to harass or defame Worden. The lawsuit also claims that Darr and Secondiak reported Worden to the commission for alleged harassment, which was later disproven by a third-party investigation clearing Worden of any wrongdoing.