A former Trenton firefighter who claimed he was subject to constructive termination after objecting to a promotions fraud scheme has settled his Mercer County wrongful termination suit for $1.775 million.

In Strycharz v. City of Trenton, Michael Strycharz, who joined the Trenton Fire Department as a firefighter in 1984, claimed his superior, Batallion Chief Steven Coltre, began pressuring him to retire in 2014, when he was a captain. The suit claimed Coltre solicited cash bribes of $5,000 each from firefighters seeking promotion to the position of captain, payable when the promotion is received. Strycharz’s retirement would open up such a position, but after he refused to retire, he was hit with departmental charges of refusing to follow an order at a fire scene, the suit claimed.