Peter Meter Denied

Last month, I wrote a story about a sexual harassment complaint filed against D.C. police photo lab head William “Bill” Gresham. The story speculated on a finer point of the extremely graphic lawsuit filed by former Gresham employee Mary N. Gilkey—an allegation in paragraph 14 that “Defendant Gresham introduced what he called a ‘peter meter’ to the office.”

Gresham and D.C. police declined to comment on my story about what, exactly, a “peter meter” is. Now, the photo lab boss has officially denied that he ever “introduced” one to his office. Last Friday, a response was finally filed in the case on behalf of Gresham and the District of Columbia. The answer to the complaint denies the allegation concerning the “peter meter,” along with the remainder of Gilkey’s allegations of sexual harassment and retaliation. There are a lot of allegations to deny. In her Sept. 24 complaint, Gilkey claimed the harassment spanned 14 years of her employment in the photo lab, and included Gresham commenting on her body while “he licked his tongue and touch[ed] his penis,” Gresham showing her “pictures of two men engaged in a sexual act where one man had his arm up the other man’s ass,” and Gresham hitting her “on the top of her head with a telephone receiver so hard she bled.”

After denying Gilkey’s “allegations of discrimination, hostile work environment, retaliation and violation of the common law violation,” the answer to the complaint, filed by Acting Attorney General Peter J. Nickles, requests that the “matter be dismissed.”

Tags: Bill Gresham, D.C. police, Mary Gilkey, peter meter, sexual harassment