MINNEAPOLIS - Minneapolis has approved paying $392,000 to settle claims by a former police officer who accused other officers of illegally accessing her driver's license information.
Anne Marie Rasmusson has now garnered more than $1 million in settlements.
More than 100 officers from 18 different precincts viewed her driver's license, according to Minneapolis newspaper City Pages. Many of them harassed Rasmusson, gossiping about her previous 85-pound weight loss, asking her out on dates and driving past her home when she declined their advances. She moved, twice, the paper said, to get away from the groups of officers who were using access to the database to also gossip about plastic surgery work she'd had done.
Rasmusson, who worked for Eden Prairie and St. Paul, was told her private data was accessed 140 times between 2005 and 2012 without a legitimate reason.The Minneapolis City Council approved its settlement Friday. It follows settlements by St. Paul and other cities.
Minneapolis City Attorney Susan Segal said her office weighed the potential costs of moving forward with the lawsuit, which would have included staff time, police time and the risk of paying attorney's fees. Federal statutes also outline minimum damages of about $2,500 per unauthorized lookup.
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