Home > Waco Breaking News > Archives > 2009 > June > 02 > Entry
Waco federal judge dismisses ex-sergeant’s lawsuit against Hewitt
A Waco federal judge has ruled in favor of the city of Hewitt, City Manager Adam Miles and Police Chief James Barton in a lawsuit filed in December by an ex-police sergeant who claimed his termination was a violation of his freedom of speech.
Chief U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. dismissed the lawsuit on Friday in Waco federal court.
Miles said he was pleased with the quick dismissal.
“Clearly the city did not violate anyone’s constitutionally protected right to freedom of speech,” he said.
Calls to Powell and his attorney Austin-based Tom Stribling, who was appointed to represent Powell through the Combined Law Enforcement Association of Texas, have not been immediately returned.
CLEAT’s public affairs director, Charley Wilkison, said he has been busy because of the legislative session, which came to an end Monday, and said he had not heard about the results of the lawsuit, but that CLEAT lawyers “win and lose lawsuits every day.”
In December, he had called a press conference in front of Hewitt City Hall in which he said Powell’s termination was “good ol’ boy politics gone wild,” and that CLEAT would “sue them to the end of the world.”
The November termination letter cited in the lawsuit said Powell “failed to follow the chain of command” by contacting former Hewitt City Councilman James Vidrine to advocate himself for an upcoming opening in the department. The letter also contended that Powell told Vidrine information about a confidential investigation regarding another officer’s suggestive comments about Powell’s wife.
Miles, who started at the city in September, upheld Powell’s Veterans Day termination in December.
A letter drafted by Miles upholding the firing said Powell lied in defending his actions, according to the lawsuit.
Miles’ letter stated that phone records show Powell contacted Vidrine and “discussed activities of the police chief, speculated about the termination of another officer and how the vacancy would be filled,” and “produced a job description for the position, delivered it to the council member and confirmed that (Powell was) qualified for the position.”
The letter also said fliers passed around Hewitt showed “serious lack of judgment,” the lawsuit said. And the letter said “witnesses confirmed” that Powell intentionally harassed the city through filing an excessive number of open records requests.
According to federal court records, Smith unfounded Powell’s claims, saying that the former officer’s freedom of speech was not violated because none of the issues he alleged were matters of public concern.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment | Categories: Headlines, Around Central Texas, Courthouse, Police & crime
Commenting is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. M-F
Post a comment
Before you comment, please take a few moments to make sure that what you're saying is civil and respectful. We don't tolerate personal attacks, insults, name-calling, impersonations or generally hateful comments — they don't make for a pleasant (or productive) conversation. We want to raise the level of debate and encourage a wide diversity of viewpoints — and that means disagreeing without being disagreeable. If you wouldn't say it to your grandmother, you probably shouldn't say it here.
Your comment will be removed from WacoTrib.com if it runs afoul of these guidelines or anything else in our site's visitor agreement.
*HTML not allowed in comments. Your e-mail address is required.
Comments
By BJ
June 2, 2009 7:35 PM | Link to this | Report comment abuse
Lesson learned here is don’t rock the boat if you don’t want to go down with the ship.