A former Charleston officer has filed a lawsuit against the city’s former police chief, James “Tyke” Hunt, and the department alleging he engaged in sexual activity with her while in a leadership role. In a lawsuit filed in Kanawha County Circuit Court, Chelsea McCoy alleges Hunt “ensured that she passed” a polygraph test after she engaged in sexual activity with him. Hunt, officer Richie Basford and the police department are named in the suit. McCoy was undergoing the polygraph as part of the application process for joining the police department. She previously told Eyewitness News she was nervous about questions on the polygraph due to her previous history of drug use. McCoy said the texts with Hunt were sometimes sexual in nature and led to the two engaging in sexual activity in the exam room at Charleston Police Department headquarters on April 5, 2018. Afterwards, McCoy said she was informed by Hunt that she’d passed. She was sworn in as an officer on June 7, 2018. McCoy submitted her resignation on March 30, 2022.