St. Paul Police Chief Axel Henry recently filed an amended version of his lawsuit against Mayor Kaohly Her, adding a seventh count and new details, including reference to media coverage of an hour-long interview the mayor conducted on a Hmong-language podcast shortly after his lawsuit was filed.

Henry sued the mayor and the city on Sept. 23 over six claims, alleging violation of the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act, violation of the Minnesota Whistleblower Act, sexual harassment in violation of the Minnesota Human Rights Act, reprisal, aiding and abetting, and common law battery.

The amended complaint, filed Tuesday in Ramsey County District Court, adds another count of reprisal in violation of the Minnesota Human Rights Act against Her in her individual capacity.

A spokesperson for the mayor had no comment Friday.

In his wide-ranging accusations, Henry had accused the mayor of repeatedly touching his thigh during a budget meeting, threatening his job and refusing to cooperate on a pension-related issue if he did not agree to be her “friend,” withholding requested data about her drivers, confronting female officers in the gym locker about their breasts, texting an inappropriate joke about wieners to at least two officers, and other boundary-crossing behavior.

Based on his complaint, the city hired Resolute Law to conduct an investigation. Around Sept. 18, Henry received only a two-page summary of the firm’s 76-page report, which the police chief maintains in his lawsuit “falsely minimized and disputed” witness accounts of the mayor’s conduct.

In the first count regarding a potential violation of the Data Practices Act, the amended complaint cites state statute defining the mayor as a public official and notes that complaints against public officials resulting in discipline are public documents.

The amended complaint notes that at 9:30 p.m. on Sept. 30, the city followed up by providing a heavily redacted copy of the investigative report substantiating some but not all of Henry’s concerns, and without underlying exhibits or data.

The Axon contract

The amended complaint also alleges the mayor made “myriad misstatements” during a June 12 interview with investigators regarding budget disputes, contracts and the police department’s RTIC (Real Time Information Center) technology unit. The mayor had claimed that the police department, without alerting her, had entered into a contract with Axon, a company that provides law enforcement hardware and software linked to artificial intelligence.

“As the Mayor and the City well know, the Axon contract on which the Mayor bases her claim that SPPD acted without her approval was a contract entered into by Mayor Carter before Mayor Her took office,” reads the amended complaint. “Mayor Her knew that the statements about the Axon contract were false at the time she made them in June 2026.”

It goes on to say: “The City took no steps to correct the knowing misstatements made by the Mayor against Chief Henry. Mayor Her took no steps to correct her knowing misstatements that she made against Chief Henry.”

The complaint also references an hour-long interview the mayor conducted, in Hmong, with former Council Member Dai Thao on his podcast following the lawsuit’s filing, as well as a Sept. 30 article in the Pioneer Press summarizing the interview. The newspaper hired a certified Hmong interpreter to translate parts of a YouTube video in which the two discussed Her’s work as mayor.

“Mayor Her said that she would call Chief Henry ‘about work matters, but he turned it around and said it was her wanting to have a personal conversation with him,'” the lawsuit quotes the article as saying. “Mayor Her said ‘she thinks she should have been more cautious because she notices in American culture that opening your heart is used as a weak point and weaponized against people.’”

It goes on to say: “The police chief’s accusations that Her wanted to date him or was going to retaliate by removing him from his job are not true, Her said in the interview with Thao. All of these responses from Mayor Her and her sycophants to date are not only factually baseless but are also offensive to anyone who has experienced the consistent sexual harassment, persistent boundary crossing, and retaliatory misconduct by Mayor Her.

“The lack of accountability shown by the Mayor, the City, and her lackeys who instead continue to try to minimize her misconduct would be shocking if it were not their apparent modus operandi,” the lawsuit’s complaint continues.

The mayor responds

On Sept. 18, following the release of the summary findings from the Resolute Law report, Her issued a written statement saying she would complete training in workplace conduct, as laid out by the city’s Human Resources director, and noting that the investigation did not find evidence of sexual harassment.

“I take my responsibilities as Mayor and as a community leader seriously,” she wrote. “That is why I cooperated fully with the independent investigation conducted for the City of St. Paul regarding the allegations against me.”

Her statement goes on to say: “I intend to comply with all of the recommended action steps. I am gratified that the report finds that the allegations of sexual harassment and retaliation were unsubstantiated.”

“I have always worked to be approachable as a leader and build strong working relationships, and I attempt to connect with people to build camaraderie. As reflected in the summary of investigative findings, at times, I became too informal in my communications and crossed lines that are not consistent with the standards set forth in the City’s Workplace Conduct Policy. I apologize for any discomfort I caused.”

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