Michael Rusk alleged that he had been fending off Christopher Gibson's sexual advances at the time, telling the 9-1-1 operator: "I told him ‘no’ and he just kept going. I told him to stop. He kept going. I thought he was gonna rape me."
A Virginia officer who shot his superior is now suing his former police department for gender discrimination.
Officer Michael Rusk, 26, shot Sgt. Christopher Gibson, 41, on Jan. 24, 2023, after the two men had been out drinking at a Williamsburg bar.
Rusk alleged that he had been fending off Gibson's sexual advances at the time, telling the 911 operator: "I told him ‘no’ and he just kept going. I told him to stop. He kept going. I thought he was gonna rape me."
Rusk was placed on leave after the incident and terminated from the James County Police Department in May. He is also facing a count of aggravated malicious wounding and a firearm infraction for which he will stand trial in September. He could be sentenced to 20 years in prison if convicted and has yet to enter a plea to ether charge
Gibson, who survived the shooting, also went on leave after the incident and in May retired from the force.
Rusk has now filed a federal lawsuit against the James County Police Department and is seeking $5.5 million in damages.
He alleges that Gibson's unwanted sexual advances began in January 2021 when he joined the force.
Both Gibson and his lawyer did not respond to requests for comment about the allegations made by Rusk in his lawsuit.
The lawsuit says that Rusk "has been subject to illegal and intolerable conditions, including statements and other inappropriate and unwanted behaviors of his supervisor" and that this allowed for a "hostile work environment."
He included 124 pages of texts between himself and who he alleges to be Gibson to support his complaint.
There are a number of texts in which the person alleged to be Gibson refers to himself as "daddy." The party identified as Rusk, meanwhile, addresses Gibson as "honey" and "hunny" in some texts.
In one text exchange from December 2022, Rusk expresses his loyalty to Gibson, who responds by saying he is "thankful" for the "rare bond" the two men have. Rusk then sends Gibson a picture of Ennis Del Mar, the closeted gay cowboy portrayed by Heath Ledger in the film "Brokeback Mountain." The person alleged to be Gibson responds with a photo of Del Mar embracing Jack Twist, the gay cowboy played by Jake Gyllenhaal in the film adaptation of the Annie Proulx short story.
The person alleged to be Gibson sent a text to Rusk a week prior to that exchange in which he wrote to Rusk: “Just a reminder that you’re really attractive.” Rusk responded to that text with a smiling and sweating emoji as well as a blue heart.
Rusk alleges in his lawsuit that Gibson was also stalking him at this time through the use of a Life360 tracking device the two men used as a safety precaution while on duty.
"Gibson regularly tracked Mr. Rusk’s location using 'Life360' and would show up unannounced both on-duty and off-duty to monitor and follow Mr. Rusk, to the point that it made Mr. Rusk feel he was being stalked and harassed," says the lawsuit.
This led to Rusk disabling the service so that Gibson could not track him outside of work. "Gibson’s pervasive and severe attempts to groom an inappropriate romantic relationship and entice a sexual response; both verbally and physically, began to get increasingly worse," says Rusk in his lawsuit.
That all came to a head on the night of Jan. 24, 2023.
"Gibson made unwanted advances and began to sexually assault and batter Mr. Rusk relentlessly. Gibson prevented Mr. Rusk from calling for help, and forcefully prevented Mr. Rusk from getting away from him by grabbing him and holding him against Mr. Rusk’s truck, depriving Mr. Rusk the opportunity to flee and seek help," says the lawsuit.
Rusk alleges that Gibson "continued to get more sexually and physically aggressive," leaving him with no other options than to use his gun, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit is seeking $5.5 million in damages for both the alleged sexual harassment Rusk claims to have endured as well as the alleged gender discrimination at his workplace. Rusk argues that because he was a man making complaints about another man that his concerns were not taken seriously by members of the police force.
Rusk did lodge a formal complaint about Gibson's behavior with a superior on the force in the weeks before the incident, and according to the report that was later released had said that things were improving between himself and Gibson. Rusk denies ever saying that things were getting better between himself and Gibson, however, and notes that despite speaking with his superior in December 2022, the report was not released until two months after the shooting.
"The Defendants’ conduct has completely ruined Mr. Rusk’s life. The shocking and frightening events that occurred to Mr. Rusk on January 24 and 25 of 2023, combined and in conjunction with the Defendants’ conduct alleged in this action has caused Mr. Rusk to suffer substantial mental health issues, and stress, which have manifested themselves into physical ailments," says the lawsuit.
Rusk then says in the lawsuit that had he been a woman, the police force "would have never allowed the conduct alleged to have been reported to White to continue and that female officer would have been assigned a different supervisor and Gibson would mostly likely have been terminated."
The James County Police Department has yet to respond to the suit and did not return a request for comment.
