A D.C police officer who was twice fired for allegedly lying about beating his wife will now be re-hired because the department showed a “manifest disregard” for the law when Chief Cathy Lanier fired him the second time, an arbiter has ruled.
Sgt. Joseph Stimmell must be rehired immediately and the department will have to pay him full back pay and benefits. He was among 17 officers fired in May 2008 by Lanier, who said at the time she had been forced to re-hire them due to errors committed by the previous police chief’s administration.
Stimmell was originally fired in 2004 for conduct unbecoming an officer. A police department panel had ruled that he lied to Lt. Diane Groomes about beating his wife during a 2001 incident in which police were called to his home. Stimmell, however, was rehired in 2005 after an arbiter determined the department hadn’t followed protocol in his original dismissal.
A second arbiter has now ruled the department once again failed to follow the law when it fired him the second time. Officials “improperly excluded” evidence from Stimmell’s hearing. They also relied too heavily on evidence submitted by Attorney General Peter Nickles and not enough on independent investigators.
