A Philly police captain under investigation for sexual harassment was named the chief of police in Hartford, Conn., before withdrawing

A Philadelphia police captain who was recently named and celebrated as the next chief of police in Hartford, Conn., has chosen not to move forward with the job after officials there learned he had been accused of sexually harassing two sergeants who worked for him in Philadelphia.

Tyrell McCoy, 36, gathered with the leaders of Hartford on Jan. 24 as they announced his role as the city’s top cop. Mayor Arunan Arulampalam called McCoy a “rising star” in Philadelphia and said he was expected to be confirmed after a public hearing and City Council vote on Feb. 10.

McCoy’s appointment came as he was under investigation by the Philadelphia Police Department after two sergeants said he had sexually harassed them on the job, according to Internal Affairs complaints obtained by The Inquirer.

According to the records, one of the sergeants said McCoy pursued him for years — including when he was his boss — and had groped him, tried to kiss him, and asked him for sex more than once. The officer filed a complaint in the summer of 2024, records show, and the city hired a team of outside lawyers to investigate the matter.

The inquiry remains ongoing, sources familiar with the investigation said, and Internal Affairs has not issued any findings on whether McCoy acted inappropriately or violated any department rules.

The officers who filed the complaints could not be reached for comment. The Inquirer generally does not identify people who say they have been sexually harassed unless they choose to make their names public.

McCoy, who continues to work for Philadelphia police, assigned to night command, did not respond to a request for comment.

The police department said it could not confirm or deny any internal investigation of McCoy.

Sgt. Eric Gripp, a spokesperson for the department, said there have been five citizen complaints filed against McCoy in his 15 years in the department, most more than a decade old and none sexual in nature. Only one incident — a verbal dispute in 2013 — was substantiated by internal investigators, Gripp said. He declined to comment further.

Since joining the department in 2010, McCoy ascended to the rank of captain in 2018, and served as head of recruitment, as well as the leader of two busy districts in North Philadelphia and Center City, according to department records.

McCoy worked as an administrative lieutenant in internal affairs from March 2017 to November 2018 — a position that one of his accusers told investigators McCoy said made him “untouchable,” Internal Affairs documents say.

It was around that time, one of the sergeants said, that McCoy began harassing him. On one occasion, Internal Affairs documents show, he told investigators McCoy ordered him to get into McCoy’s department-issued car outside of a Target in Fairmount and asked him, “When you going to stop playing and give me what I want?”

The sergeant said McCoy then groped him, according to the records. When the sergeant rejected his advances, he said, McCoy threw him out of the car. The officer provided the investigators with years of text messages from McCoy that he said showed his continued sexual advances, according to the records.

On another occasion, the sergeant said, the captain tried to grope him in his office. And once, when the sergeant invited McCoy to his home, he said McCoy tried to forcibly kiss him.

The officer said he worried that reporting the captain’s behavior could jeopardize his career, in part because of McCoy’s connections to Internal Affairs, according to the records.

“I had to be careful, I tried to just stay out of his way,” the sergeant told the lawyers hired by the city to investigate, according to the records.

It is not clear whether Hartford officials were aware of the allegations before they announced McCoy’s appointment as police chief. The mayor did not respond to a request for comment.

The city had conducted a national search to fill the position, which has been held by an interim chief since July 2024.

“It is a very serious position ... that involves an immense amount of public trust,” the mayor said in announcing McCoy as Hartford’s new chief on Jan. 24.

Last week, as The Inquirer was asking questions about the Internal Affairs investigations of McCoy in Philadelphia, Hartford’s mayor announced that McCoy had withdrawn from contention for the job, citing personal reasons.

Hartford City Council member John Gale said in an interview this week that officials were initially pleased with the selection of McCoy and impressed with his background and his experience in recruitment because the city’s police department, like others nationwide, is experiencing a shortage of officers.

But Gale said he, the mayor, and other members of council later received an email about the Internal Affairs investigations in Philadelphia and found them concerning.

He said the allegations, while unsubstantiated, were troubling.

“If you’re applying for the job of chief of police of a major American city,” he said, “ I would think there would be a lot of disclosure about these things and that would have been reason for pause.”

Staff writer Max Marin contributed to this article.