The Cambridge City Council on Monday approved a $400,000 settlement with former Cambridge Police Department officer Thomas Ahern. The agreement will resolve a lawsuit Ahern filed against the city for alleged violations of his First Amendment rights and protections from the Massachusetts Whistleblower Act.
Six councillors — Patty Nolan, E. Denise Simmons, Cathie Zusy, Marc McGovern, and Tim Flaherty and Vice Mayor Burhan Azeem — voted in favor of the settlement. Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui and Councillor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler voted against authorizing the agreement, and Councillor Ayah Al-Zubi was absent.
In May of 2019, Ahern’s firearm discharged while he was in a SWAT van sent to patrol Harvard Square’s annual Mayfair event. Four other CPD officers and two members of the Cambridge Fire Department were also in the van at the time, but Ahern was the only one injured. Ahern claimed the gun would not fit properly in its holster, so he withdrew it to examine the holster, and gun went off on its own. The bullet hit the cell phone in his pocket, bruising him, and lodged in a ballistic helmet.
The gun was a P320 made by gun manufacturer Sig Sauer. Ahern had raised concerns to CPD as early as 2017 about this model of gun after seeing a video of one firing after being dropped. According to court documents, “Ahern voiced concerns both to Cambridge police department’s leadership as well as other members of the police department both inside and outside of work.”
After the Mayfair incident, CPD immediately opened an investigation to see if Ahern had violated department policy for removing his gun from its holster. The city determined Ahern both de-holstered and discharged his weapon and offered him an agreement that would have resulted in a 30-day unpaid suspension. Ahern refused to agree to anything that asserted he pulled the trigger. This led to an intense confrontation with Deputy Superintendent Dennis O’Connor.
A final investigative report was issued in December of 2019, confirming that Ahern had violated CPD policy for the way he held his gun. Disciplinary action hadn’t been decided on by the time Ahern retired in 2023. During this period Ahern was denied three requests to participate in additional training and had applied and been rejected twice for a promotion to deputy superintendent. Ahern served in the CPD for nearly thirty years.
Ahern claimed these denials were in retaliation for him raising concerns about the P320. He filed a lawsuit against the city and Sig Sauer in 2021. In 2024, the city filed a motion for summary judgment to U.S. District Court Judge Denise Casper in order to prevent the case from going to trial, but Casper denied the motion, saying a jury needed to decide whether Ahern’s speech was a “substantial and motivating factor” for him being denied trainings and a promotion.
The city has had at least two other officers make the same claims about the Sig Sauer P320. The city replaced the guns in 2025.
Cost vs Transparency
During the city council meeting, councillors weighed the cost benefits of settling the lawsuit or going to a jury trial.
Sobrinho-Wheeler objected to entering a settlement agreement, saying such deals get in the way of reform.
“Every few years, this body is asked to settle a lawsuit involving the police department, sometimes for hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Sobrinho-Wheeler said, referencing a $1.4 million settlement the city paid out to resolve what was later revealed by the Boston Globe to be a sexual harassment lawsuit that implicated Sgt. James Crowley. “Because of this, fundamental issues with the police department are never addressed …. A settlement will sweep the details of this case under the rug. That cost is both in dollars and in harm to public safety and transparency that we owe to Cambridge residents.”
However, Azeem pointed out that many of the details in the Ahern case had been made public. He also shared concerns about the financial implications of an extended trial, especially if it resulted in a judgment against the city.
“There’s nothing stopping us from having a conversation now,” Azeem said. “I just don’t understand the risk of potentially having a lawsuit [cost] millions of dollars.”
Flaherty, who is also a trial attorney and former prosecutor, said he wasn’t willing to “roll the dice” by going to trial.
“I think this is an issue of fiduciary responsibility to the city,” said Flaherty. “If the city does have the opportunity to resolve the case, which it appears that we do, and limit the potential liability in this case, we should take full advantage of it very quickly.”
A stronger
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