Lawsuit filed against cop in harassment case

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - A Santa Fe police officer who used his position to stalk women could cost the city a lot of money.
    
The women he harassed are suing the Santa Fe Police Department and the chief claiming he knew he had a bad cop and didn't do anything about it.
    
The lawsuit was filed Friday by seven women, including two former Santa Fe police officers, a former judge and a state police officer's wife.

It was filed against former Santa Fe police officer Michael Eiskant is filled with many of the details KRQ E News 13 uncovered about Eiskant over the last year.
    
Complaints go back a decade from women, including two Santa Fe police officers.    
    
They say Eiskant, working as a police officer, stalked and harassed them.
    
After KRQE News 13’s first story aired last January, Eiskant quit the department.
   
Three months later Eiskant was in district court in Albuquerque facing charges. 

Eiskant admitted to 10 counts, including two counts of illegally using a law enforcement database to get information about women. He stalked one woman and harassed two others, including a Santa Fe police officer.
    
The lawsuit filed Wednesday says Chief Ray Rael knew about Eiskant's behavior and did nothing.
    
The suit says when Rael was the HR compliance officer for Santa Fe police. He told a female city worker who complained about Eiskant's sexual harassment that he could “fire her if she did not cooperate."
    
Rael became police chief in March of 2011.
    
The suit alleges that when Officer Shannon Brady accused Eiskant of harassing her. Chief Rael told her if she didn't agree to mediation with Eiskant, “the only other recourse was for Brady to leave her job."  
    
Rael allegedly told another female officer that if she continued to complain about Eiskant that “her job would be in jeopardy.”

Rael refused to comment on the lawsuit Wednesday.
    
When we talked to him last march, he made no apologies.

“Again, it was handled according to the policies and procedures, we gave the appropriate advice we evaluated it appropriately no I have no regrets,” Chief Rael said.
 
Eiskant also used a police database to get info on a state police officer's wife so he could stalk her.
    
As part of his plea deal, Eiskant got a year of probation and agreed to never work as a police officer again.
    
This is the second time Chief Rael has been on the spot about an officer accused of mistreating women.
    
Carlos Salazar was a state police officer when he was accused of sexually assaulting a DWI suspect at a police station and then calling her and hitting on her.
    
He quit and was sued, but was hired by Santa Fe PD this fall.
    
Chief Rael admitted to us they hired him without looking deeply enough into his background.
   
Salazar is still on the job.