DALTONâ Rather than hurry to the scene of a reported domestic dispute, a Dalton cop tried to protect a fellow officerâs reputation, a newly filed lawsuit claims, then engaged in a cover-up of actions taken, or not taken, on the night a young woman was found dead.
Patricia Hayes, of Pittsfield, the mother of that woman, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit May 7 in U.S. District Court in Springfield that seeks $3,775,000 in damages.
If police had gone to the womanâs apartment, as police policy dictates in domestic incidents, they might have saved Sherilyn Hayesâ life, the suit claims.