As expected, Collingdale Police Chief Shanee Mitchell has filed a lawsuit against the borough and officials there for engaging in what she considers a series of discriminatory and retaliatory practices against her since she joined the department in October 2024.
The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania this week by attorneys Mark Schwartz and Lorraine Harmer, lays out a litany of perceived slights and illegal actions borough officials have allegedly taken.
It names the borough, Mayor Donna Marreo-Spadea, council members Felecia Coffee, Stephen Zane and Shannon Murphy, Borough Manager Joseph Papaleo and 10 as-yet-unidentified “John Doe” officials as defendants.
Kilkenny Law attorney Deanna Williams, serving as solicitor for Collingdale, declined comment on the suit.
Mitchell was placed on leave by borough council the day after a Jan. 5 reorganizational meeting. The suit claims Collingdale has since refused to pay for training or conferences that Mitchell needs to keep up her certifications.
Mitchell said in a Feb. 7 statement that she was called into an unscheduled meeting with borough leadership Jan. 6 and told she was being placed on leave because she failed to report to work at 8 a.m. daily.
“The meeting was brief and offered no opportunity for meaningful discussion,” she said.
Mitchell signaled in April that she would be suing after borough officials did not open up a dialogue with her about her claims and was granted a right to sue by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in June.
According to the lawsuit:
Mitchell’s contract stipulates that her hours are from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., but allows for flexibility due to the nature of the position, which requires appearances at other functions and crime scenes outside those specified hours.
Immediately after taking the oath of office, however, Matteo-Spada began to undermine Mitchell’s authority by stripping her duties and assigning them to a Caucasian sergeant who has since resigned. The mayor also attempted to have Mitchell suspended on her first day and directed other officers to disregard her orders.
Mitchell submitted a formal complaint of harassment with the borough in November 2024, but this only resulted in Matteo-Spadea issuing her a “cease and desist” notice to stop all communication with officers, council members, the media and community members.
“Rather than stop the interference or protect plaintiff from retaliation, borough officials … permitted the hostile course of conduct to continue, apparently ignoring and leaving her November 15, 2024, ‘formal complaint’ unanswered,” the suit stated.
The complaint notes that the department was “in crisis” and severely understaffed when Mitchell came on board, but she worked to rebuild and modernize it. This was recognized by outgoing council members in December 2025, who awarded her with the borough’s first Community Catalyst Award recognizing her “high moral character, public trust, innovation, professionalism, leadership, and unwavering commitment to the borough.”
But there were already rumblings at that time from new, incoming council members elected in November 2025 that they could not wait for January, presumably so they could replace Mitchell.
Mitchell, however, had already completed her one-year probationary period and secured permanent status as the police chief on Oct. 29, 2025, without receiving written notice that her performance was unsatisfactory. She was therefore legally protected from undue suspension, demotion or removal.
The suit claims the harassment continued during the entirety of Mitchell’s tenure at the department, extending even to two officers she hired, both also African-American who were fired from their positions apparently by reason of association. Those officers, Jerry Christian and Terrell Howard, have both also filed EEOC complaints and are expected to file lawsuits of their own.
Mitchell said she was alerted in April that a legal investigation had been launched against her and that she would remain on administrative leave pending the outcome, but has to date not been contacted by any law enforcement agency concerning any such investigation.
One source in the District Attorney’s Office speaking on condition of anonymity said that a referral had been made to that office, but could not confirm its conclusion.
The complaint states that the investigation was more pretext to extend Mitchell’s forced leave of absence and added fuel to a smear campaign orchestrated by borough representatives.
Mitchell was notified in June that her employment contract would expire Sept. 30 and that it would not be renewed. That notification also referenced the criminal investigation.
Mitchell is no stranger to controversy.
Darden was charged soon after for a 2023 road rage incident involving a firearm.
Those charges remain pending. He resigned two days after being hired.
An excoriating email from a top county official lambasted Mitchell for failing to do due diligence in Darden’s hiring and for defending the hire afterward.
“Very simply, Chief, I do more background investigation for an intern than you did for a man that you intended to give a gun and a badge to,” that email reads.
Mitchell came to Collingdale from Selinsgrove Police Department in Snyder County, where she was hired in 2022.
She told Selinsgrove residents she would be a working officer, taking shifts and planning to move to that area, which is 50 miles north of Harrisburg on the Susquehanna River south of Williamsport.
But in 2024, some in that town began questioning her running the department from her home in Montgomery County.
Others praised Mitchell for the work she had done in modernizing that department, and Schwartz has previously called complaints about his client there overblown and “bogus.”
The suit claims the current situation in Collingdale has harmed Mitchell’s reputation and provided a false impression to the public that she has engaged in serious misconduct, making the ability to secure another job elsewhere all but impossible.
She is alleging a dozen claims including civil rights violations related to her race and sex, as well as retaliation, municipal liability, violations of her First and Fourteenth Amendment rights to free speech and due process, as well as state law claims including breach of contract.
Mitchell is seeking declaratory judgment in her favor, as well as punitive and compensatory damages.