Tom Radzyminski, former White House Marine guard and
highly decorated LAPD officer, and wife Kellene Brooks, also an LAPD
officer, were tired of the rat race in the big city. In 1995, they
lateralled to the Santa Maria Police Department in search of a better
quality of life. While Radzyminski received stacks of commendations and
awards from LAPD, including the Police Medal for Bravery for wresting a
loaded handgun from a suicidal suspect, the cleaner air, cheaper housing
and less stressful living along the Central Coast seemed like a dream
come true. Radzyminski and Brooks settled into their patrol positions in
Santa Maria, and to no one's surprise excelled as they had in Los
Angeles.
Then, one ill-fated p.m. shift during the evening of
July 25, 1997, Radzyminski and a fellow officer became involved in an
altercation with a resisting suspect who was attempting to dispose of
illegal drugs. During the melee Radzyminski struck his head and shoulder
on the pavement. He shook off his injuries and gave chase to the suspect
in his unit, eventually apprehending him. During the altercation, an
Explorer Scout in Radzyminski's care also sustained minor injuries.
Radzyminski went to Urgent Care with his Explorer. When asked by a
doctor about his injuries, he said he was "O.K.", in order to
attend to his Explorer and finish his arrest report.
Later that shift, Radzyminski was told by his
sergeant not to go out in the field except in the event of an officer
safety issue due to his visible injuries. As fate would have it, at
around 12:30 a.m. a call for assistance was broadcast on the radio. The
officer involved was Kellene Brooks. Officers hearing the broadcast
thought that she was getting physically accosted. Three officers,
including Radzyminski, ran to their units. Radzyminski backed out of his
parking spot, concentrating on the radio broadcast to learn of Brooks'
location. While doing so, his unit apparently made contact with a small
mailbox, causing minor damage to the unit and negligible damage to the
mailbox. Radzyminski was unaware of this slight collision. As
Radzyminski began driving to the scene, the situation was broadcast as
"Code 4", so he returned to the station. When he emerged from
his vehicle he viewed the damage to the unit with disbelief. He waited
for his sergeant to return from his wife's call and immediately reported
the damage, accepting full responsibility as the officer in charge of
the unit. After consulting with his sergeant, Radzyminski traced the
route of his earlier call regarding the resisting suspect as he felt the
damage may have occurred during this earlier call.
When their shifts were completed, Radzyminski and his
wife departed for their annual vacation. Days later, a lieutenant found
the obvious damage on and around the mailbox consisting of a paint
transfer and some tail light fragments. Upon viewing the damage, the
chief announced that "there must be more to this," concluding
that Radzyminski was somehow withholding information as to the cause of
the damage despite his acceptance of responsibility. The chief had his
staff look into the matter further. This preliminary inquiry consisted
of a commander essentially telling Radzyminski that if he could
"clear the matter up" no discipline would follow. Radzyminski
was unable to do so because he simply did not know the cause of the
damage. The commander sent Radzyminski to see the internal affairs
lieutenant across the hall. The lieutenant activated a surreptitious
micro-cassette recorder upon Radzyminski's entry into the office. The
lieutenant questioned Radzyminski without informing him that the was the
subject of an investigation. Radzyminski then told the lieutenant what
happened to the best of his recollection, but still could not identify
exactly how the damage had occurred. Radzyminski was told that he must
have struck the mailbox, and he immediately stated again that he would
accept responsibility for the damage.
After a perfunctory investigation, which not
surprisingly parroted the initial finding of the chief, Radzyminski was
terminated for alleged dishonesty.
The City of Santa Maria then proceeded to deny
Radzyminski unemployment benefits. In support of its position, the city
provided a lengthy denunciation of Radzyminski set forth on letterhead
from the city manager's office. The administrative law judge hearing the
matter issued a decision that questioned the city's motives, and granted
Radzyminski his full benefits. Howard Liberman of Silver, Hadden &
Silver represented Radzyminski at that hearing.
Radzyminski's battle with the City of Santa Maria was
far from over. City manager Tim Ness was designated by the MOU between
the police association and the city to hear Radzyminski's appeal.
However, Ness made it clear that he did not want to hear the case, and
unilaterally chose a former member of law enforcement management
inexperienced in such matters to preside over the matter. When Bill
Hadden, counsel for Radzyminski, advised the city manager that the MOU
was a negotiated agreement that could not be arbitrarily changed at the
city manager's whim, Ness still refused to revoke his selection. With
the backing of the PORAC Legal Defense Fund, Hadden and Liberman then
brought court action to prevent the city from choosing its own hearing
officer in violation of the MOU. Furthermore, in light of the indication
of bias by Ness stemming from the city's response in the unemployment
hearing and its belligerent insistence on being able to choose its own
hearing officer, Radzyminski's counsel asked that Ness be precluded from
hearing the case, and that the parties be required to agree to an
independent factfinder. A Superior Court judge ruled that Ness could not
pick his own hearing officer, and required him to hear the case.
However, the court refused to find that Ness was sufficiently biased so
as to demand his recusal, as the City's papers in the unemployment
hearing were purportedly drafted by the assistant city manager on the
city manager's letterhead, which, the court said, failed to prove actual
bias by Ness himself.
In a three day hearing held in March 1998, Ness
predictably proceeded to uphold the decision of his chief of police.
Immediately thereafter, Hadden, who represented Radzyminski at that
hearing, filed a Petition for Writ of Mandate in Superior Court to
overturn the city's termination of Radzyminski.
Finally, on January 5, 2000, Radzyminski received the
first impartial review of his termination. Superior Court Judge Zel
Canter granted the Petition, citing specific unfair findings by Ness as
the basis for rejecting the city's decision. In his slanted analysis,
Ness found Radzyminski to lack credibility for two preposterous reasons.
First, he claimed that Radzyminski's assertion that his lieutenant had
violated Penal Code Section 632 by surreptitiously recording his
internal affairs interview was "a lie." Second, Ness alleged
that Radzyminski's statement to the doctor that he was "OK",
made in an effort to get back to work after he had been struck on the
head, was a grievous act of dishonesty.
In exercising his independent judgment on the record
of the proceedings, Judge Canter found those findings to have no merit.
Radzyminski's assertion that the lieutenant had violated Penal Code
Section 632 was a legal conclusion he was entitled to make, and had
nothing to do with dishonesty. Moreover, as was vigorously stated in
oral argument at the hearing, Radzyminski's decision to return to duty
under difficult circumstances was no different than that of San
Francisco 49er quarterback Steve Young fighting to get back into a game
after being battered by defensive linemen. Judge Canter said,
"That's a good analogy because that's exactly what was occurring.
It's the same thing." The judge found that the city manager
essentially had taken things out of context and "turned them on
their heads."
As a direct response to the manner in which Ness
conducted Radzyminski's hearing, the Santa Maria Police Officers'
Association, represented by Robert Wexler, of Silver, Hadden &
Silver, negotiated a greatly improved disciplinary procedure calling for
review by a neutral arbitrator for disciplinary actions in excess of a
40-hour suspension.
Radzyminski and his wife were elated by the decision,
and are hopeful that their two year nightmare has finally come to an
end. "Bill Hadden, Howard Liberman, and Rob Wexler were constantly
fighting for me and our association members despite enormous obstacles.
I am extremely grateful for the resources provided to them by the PORAC
Legal Defense Fund. I also wish to thank my wonderful wife for her
dedication and support throughout this ordeal."
