Former Duluth opioid technician alleges retaliation after reporting police conduct

Duluth now faces a second whistleblower-style lawsuit that could put police leadership, city oversight and taxpayer exposure under a harder spotlight.

Jessica McCarthy-Nickila filed her civil complaint April 16 in St. Louis County District Court, saying the City of Duluth acted through the Duluth Police Department and its officers, employees, agents and investigators. The case centers on what happened after she says she reported police conduct she believed was unlawful, discriminatory and unethical while working on opioid-response efforts.

McCarthy-Nickila was hired in September 2018 as the department’s first-ever Opioid Technician, a position created to respond to overdose victims, provide dependency referrals and coordinate outreach and training. A city press release at the time said the department was proud to announce the role, and later city material described the Substance Use Response Team as an opioid-overdose outreach effort meant to provide peer recovery support directly to survivors.

The complaint says McCarthy-Nickila was promoted to Program Coordinator for the Substance Use Response Team in August 2022. It also says she is a woman, Jewish and in long-term recovery from substance-use disorder. According to the filing, she faced hostility and ridicule from officers, then was disciplined, stripped of duties and effectively pushed out after raising concerns about discriminatory behavior, a hostile work environment and policing practices involving people with substance-use disorders.

That matters well beyond one workplace dispute. McCarthy-Nickila’s job sat at the intersection of public health and law enforcement, where Duluth depends on trust from people dealing with overdose, addiction and the justice system. If her allegations are accurate, the complaint suggests internal dissent was punished instead of addressed, raising new questions about whether the department’s culture discourages employees from flagging misconduct.

The new lawsuit also lands after a separate retaliation case from retired Duluth police lieutenant David Drozdowski, who filed his complaint March 2. Drozdowski, a 21-year veteran who retired in March 2025, alleged he was targeted after reporting concerns about officer conduct, data withholding, use-of-force records and task force behavior. He said he was placed on administrative leave, ordered to undergo a fitness-for-duty exam and forced to retire early to protect his pension.

Together, the two cases suggest a pattern rather than an isolated grievance. Drozdowski’s complaint also raised questions about the Lake Superior Violent Offender Task Force, a Snapchat group called Operation Rip and Tear and what he described as a culture that minimized misconduct reports. McCarthy-Nickila’s suit now extends that scrutiny to a second corner of the department, at a time when Duluth voters and taxpayers have a direct stake in how City Hall, Mayor Roger Reinert and Police Chief Mike Ceynowa respond.

Reinert took office in January 2024, and Ceynowa became chief after Mike Tusken retired in 2022. With two retaliation claims now on the table, the central issue is no longer just who said what inside Duluth police. It is whether city leadership can prove the department has the oversight to handle misconduct before the cost lands in court.