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| Dismissed correction officers lose appeal |
| By The Journal News |
| Published: 07/12/2004 |
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Three dismissed Rockland, N.Y. correction officers have lost a federal court appeal of their claims that the sheriff fired them based on their race. The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision found the three officers failed to show their dismissal had violated their constitutional rights, including free speech, and that their lawsuit was not filed in a timely manner. The lawsuit, filed in 2000 by Evan Washington, Howard Pierson IV and Secunda Crump, claimed the Sheriff's Department maliciously prosecuted them and retaliated against them for speaking out on issues at the jail. The Sheriff's Department oversees the county jail. The Court of Appeals decision June 25 upheld U.S. District Judge William Connor's dismissal of the lawsuit in August 2002. "The factual circumstances of this case do not rise to the level of a constitutional violation sufficient to warrant redress," the appeals court ruled. The three officers were brought up on disciplinary charges after an investigation into the distribution of contraband to inmates at the jail in 1996. A hearing officer dismissed the charges. "It would have been premature at best for plaintiffs to claim defendants had discriminatorily charged them with misconduct before the hearing officer ruled in their favor," the court also stated. Connor ruled the officers had failed to show that the disciplinary hearings against them were started with malice and without probable cause. Bringing disciplinary charges does not solely constitute adverse employment conditions, Connor wrote. After the charges were dismissed, the officers received their withheld pay and there was no evidence of any retaliation, Connor wrote. In separate proceedings in 1998, a hearing officer found Evans and Crump not guilty because of a lack of evidence. Washington was cleared of the disciplinary charges during binding arbitration in 1998. Investigators concluded that any evidence against the officers was based solely on inmates, who may have been trying to curry leniency in their sentencing. Washington was accused of giving a cigarette to an inmate. Crump was accused of knowing that cigarettes were stored in the jail and giving an inmate a birthday card. Pierson was accused of giving an inmate food and beer. |
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