City Manager Overturns
Discipline in Use of Force Case
It is not always the
degree of penalty, but the nature of the charges that damage one's
career. Too often departments feel that they can impose a relatively
light penalty with relatively serious charges and it is no big deal.
Officers who take their career seriously should be vigilant in
protecting their reputation from unwarranted attack.
Such was the case of
Detective Matthew Eaton with the Montclair Police Department recently.
After a use of force
complaint was filed against Eaton, the department administration went
into typical panic mode. Eaton was placed on paid administrative leave.
The case went to the District Attorney's office. A parallel Internal
Affairs investigation was launched and, by God, they were going to bring
some kind of charges against this long-term, highly-regarded officer.
Well, the District
Attorney wouldn't touch it. That alone is a tell-tale sign of the
weakness of the allegations. The evidence simply could not support the
allegations the department wanted to bring. So, in a pattern seen over
and over for many years, the department had to charge Eaton with
something. After all, he had been paid to not work for many weeks, the
department had a District Attorney case rejection, and the Internal
Affairs people had worked very hard on this. With all that in mind,
charges were brought alleging unnecessary/excessive force under the
department's rules and regulations. It is not important for the purposes
of this article to get into the gory details of what did and did not
occur to make our point. Simply put, Eaton didn't do anything wrong.
Early on Eaton had
requested LDF coverage, which was immediately granted. Attorney Bob
Krause, of Castle & Krause, in Temecula, California, who has
represented the Montclair Police Officers' Association for over 15
years, was assigned to give legal assistance. The District Attorney was
not allowed an interview notwithstanding Eaton's early feelings that he
should. Krause was with Eaton through all of the administrative
interviews and conducted the "Skelly" hearing with the
chief of police. The chief upheld the three-day suspension. Krause
appealed to the city manager.
After a hearing before
the city manager, he totally exonerated Eaton, ordered the matter out of
Eaton's file and had Eaton reimbursed for the 30-hours loss of pay he
had suffered.
Krause had commented in
the city manager hearing, among other things, that this was a classic
case of overreaction by the police administration and that it was his
experience that in cases like this the department will bring a charge .
. . facts be damned.
The moral to this story
is to not roll over simply because the worst-case scenario
(termination/criminal filing) didn't happen this time. Stay with the
facts and evidence. If the facts and evidence do not support discipline
of any kind then use the resources available through LDF and fight back.
Don't become a "progressive discipline" victim out of fear of
making waves.
LDF Home Page | News
Article Index
