A "game" played during work hours by Honolulu Police Department emergency telephone operators resulted in one operator suffering a detached retina after being struck in the eye by a ball thrown by another operator, according to a lawsuit filed in state court this week.

The lawsuit was filed by emergency operator Sally Crowder against the city and co-worker Flossie Leong.

HPD spokeswoman Michelle Yu, responding for the department and for Leong, declined comment, saying the suit had not yet been served on the defendants.

Crowder is a civilian employee in HPD's communications division, handling police radio communications as well as emergency 911 telephone calls.

According to her suit, the game began sometime before May, and players threw a small ball — slightly smaller than a tennis ball — at each other's backs during work.

Some of the players "would attempt to throw the ball with enough force to make the co-worker who was struck by the ball verbally express pain," the suit charged. Crowder alleged she was "repeatedly" struck by the missile in the back of the head and both eyes.

Another co-worker asked a supervisor to stop the game-playing but the supervisor declined because the "game was therapeutic," the suit alleged.

On May 28, a ball allegedly thrown by Leong struck Crowder in the left eye "with such force that her retina was detached, requiring surgery," the lawsuit said.

Crowder's supervisor, unnamed in the lawsuit, did not stop the game-playing after Crowder's injury but did order it discontinued after Crowder filed a workers' compensation claim, according to the suit. Crowder's workers' compensation claim was later denied by the city, the lawsuit said.

Crowder is seeking unspecified damages for what she alleges are "serious and permanent injuries" and mental and emotional distress.

Reach Jim Dooley at jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com.