Ex-NFL Cheerleader Sues City For Sexual Harassment

A former professional cheerleader turned police officer is suing the California city of Vacaville for sexual harassment. Chief among her harassers, according to the complaint: Another female officer.

Nicole Rosenstiel, now 35, joined the Vacaville police department in 2004, having been a cheerleader for the Oakland Raiders. Her supervisor there was Kim Humbert, whom she alleges told her not to work out in the department gym because of her appearance. According to the complaint, “altered photographs of her and Oakland Raiders ‘Raiderettes’ were posted with a caption, “Stay away from my daddy, Bitch!” although it’s not clear who did it. Humbert told her to “stop causing drama,” says the complaint, and “deliberately injured” Rosenstiel, announcing later that “Nicole won’t be in today because I kicked her ass and threw her around like a rag doll.” She also referred to Rosenstiel as “missy.”

Not that the male officers are given a pass here. At one change of shift, a sergeant allegedly asked for a show of hands of who wanted to see Rosenstiel naked. She also says that she was denied opportunities due to her pregnancy, and that when she filed a complaint, she was retaliated against with felony charges of fraudulent workers compensation claims. Those charges were later dismissed. Rosenstiel is now asking the city for $1.5 million in damages.

She told The San Francisco Chronicle, “People just thought that it was OK to treat me like that. No one deserves to be treated that way.” But surely women who have in the past decade done a job that involves skimpy clothing deserve to be treated that way! Isn’t that a law?