FAU sues to fire campus cop who threatened to shoot lieutenant [Archive]

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07-03-2017, 05:48 PM

The trustees of Florida Atlantic University are asking a Palm Beach County circuit judge to reverse an arbitrator’s decision that forced them to reinstate a campus cop who was fired after he threatened to shoot a fellow officer.

In a lawsuit filed this month, the board of the Boca Raton-based university claims it should not have been forced to rehire officer William Hernandez Jr., an 18-year veteran of the department. An arbitrator on June 15 ruled the university didn’t follow proper steps when it terminated Hernandez last summer.

“The university never conducted an investigation as admitted by the acting chief of police,” arbitrator William McGinnis Jr. wrote, ordering the school to reinstate Hernandez and pay him wages he lost.

A “fair and thorough” investigation is mandated under the collective bargaining agreement between the university and the Police Benevolent Association, which represents campus law enforcement officers, McGinnis said.

Hernandez threatened to shoot a police lieutenant in June 2016 during a dispute over the management and operation of the agency’s canine program, according to court records. His comments were heard by both the lieutenant and the acting chief, records show. Initially placed on paid administrative leave, Hernandez was fired a month later.
“The obligation to conduct an investigation is one of the most critical tests,” McGinnis wrote. Given that the acting chief was involved in the argument over the canine program, an independent investigation should have been conducted, he said.

A union attorney argued that Hernandez was fired because he was “an outspoken PBA representative.” It also argued that the acting chief, one of 10 chiefs or acting chiefs Hernandez had worked for over 18 years, had never before disciplined the officer.