A Selbyville police officer has filed a lawsuit against the Town’s police chief, its police department and the Town itself.
Lt. Michael Bruette’s lawsuit, filed Sept. 25 in Delaware Superior Court, claims that Police Chief Brian Wilson and the Selbyville Police Department treated him unfairly following his support for formation of a police union and his criticism of another officer.
Wilson, the lawsuit alleges, “became determined to discipline Plaintiff and restrict his ability to effectively perform the essential duties of his position” in numerous ways in 2022 and 2023.
The lawsuit alleges that Wilson denied Bruette a promotion, altered his schedule in adverse ways, restricted his access to areas necessary for him to perform his police duties and placed him on administrative leave without justification.
Bruette is currently assigned as a school resource officer in Selbyville according to his wife, Beth Bruette, a former officer with the Delaware State Police and Frankford Police Department.
In the lawsuit, Bruette alleges that Wilson’s actions followed his support for the creation of a police union chapter and his complaints about another officer, whom Bruette felt was not abiding by procedures and was not performing his duties to department standards. That other officer’s alleged violations, according to the lawsuit, included falling asleep at his post as a school resource officer in May 2023, as well as failures in following department procedures.
According to the lawsuit, Bruette was placed on administrative leave in August 2023, based on allegations that he had falsified timesheets. He claims in the suit that he had filled out his timesheet early and that a death in his family occurred after he filled it out, requiring that he take bereavement leave that he had not noted on his timesheet.