Lynchburg, VA - Lynchburg Police (web) Detective John Romano is suing the city for a violation of his civil rights. His 17-page brief was filed shortly before the court closed on Tuesday. It will be served to Mayor Joan Foster, City Manager Kimball Payne, and Chief Parks Snead. As of Wednesday afternoon, none could confirm they'd received it.

In the lawsuit, Romano says the city took action against him in retaliation for his March 10th presentation to city council. He was there to speak about budget issues on a day council was set to cut pay for city employees. After the meeting, Romano recorded a conversation in which he says, the city manager threatened his career.

TAPE RECORDING (April 3, 2009): Detective John Romano, Lynchburg Police Department- "I'd like to try to talk to you at another time when I'm not on the city's clock, so to speak. And, I think we could probably find a time that we could do that."

To read his lawsuit, it's clear Detective John Romano sees himself as a man with separate lives. March 10th, before city council, he represented a homeowner's association. If anyone had a problem with that, he says, they should address him as a citizen, not acop. By April 3rd, it was clear that would not happen.

TAPE RECORDING (April 3, 2009): Chief Parks Snead, Lynchburg Police Department- "To me, when the boss wants to talk, it is a work-related thing."

Lynchburg Police Chief Parks Snead set up a meeting in his office with Romano, but the conversation was led by City Manager Kimball Payne. Neither Snead nor Payne knew Romano was recording.

TAPE RECORDING (April 3, 2009): Kimball Payne, Lynchburg City Manager - "I've had many employees in the past, not just here, say, 'I'm a citizen. You know? I can do anything a citizens can do.' I don't think so. I mean, that's just the reality of things."

Payne made his point clear: Uniform or not, Romano is a cop. He's held to a different standard. In this case, a standard he did not meet. The conversation, at times, was heated.

TAPE RECORDING (April 3, 2009): Kimball Payne, Lynchburg City Manager- "You can't get away with attacking my integrity and saying, 'I did that as a citizen, not as an employee.' You just can't get away with that. If I was a vindictive son of a b----, you would have a lot of problems on your hands. You're lucky I'm not."

According to his lawsuit, Romano felt harassed and intimidated.

TAPE RECORDING (April 3, 2009): Kimball Payne, Lynchburg City Manager- "You're going to get away with it this time. I'm not a vindictive person, but don't pretend you can do that, because I can tell you that it's going to make a difference in your career and you'll never be able to prove that it didn't."

He also felt threatened.

TAPE RECORDING (April 3, 2009): Kimball Payne, Lynchburg City Manager- "If I start to see a line of employees coming to council meetings, hiding behind their constitutional right to insult me, it's not going to work. There's going to be repercussions."

At 5:00 on Wednesday, Kimball Payne addressed the issue for the first time. He held a brief press conference from City Hall in which he said, "I regret to say that I lost my temper when Officer Romano refused to discuss the substance of the comments that he made to city council. In my anger, I made some harsh comments for which I apologized at the time and I apologize again. I was wrong to lose my temper and should not have said what I did." 

To read the full lawsuit or the complete statment from City Manager Payne, click the RELATED DOCUMENTS links.

Click play below to hear Detective John Romano's 54 minute recording. 

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