Deputy Fired for Allegedly Punching Handcuffed Man Gets Job Back
In August of 2008, way before the recent attention to the unfortunate collection of violent incidents by the Seattle Police Department, King County Deputy Don Griffee picked up Johnny R. Bradford, who later was determined to be falsely accused. Bradford later left the patrol car with a bloody lip, saying that Griffee had punched him. The deputy was acquitted, barely, two years ago, but subsequently lost his job for excessive force and criminal conduct -- an example of King County Sheriff's Sue Rahr's then-recent no tolerance policy with use excessive force. But the decision to fire him has been reversed by an arbitrator, awarding him with 19 months of back wages. He was making $34.91 an hour at the time he was fired.
During his trial in 2008, a jury determined that Bradford's lip could have been cut earlier, when he was initially taken to the ground by police -- but the head juror was careful to point out that there simply wasn't reasonable doubt that it wasn't the case. Arbitrator Janet L. Gaunt gave a similar justification for his reinstatement -- there just isn't enough evidence to punish him. She says that the evidence in the case relied too heavily on Bradford's testimony.
A fellow officer filed a $2 million claim back in August, saying he was treated unfairly by fellow deputies after testifying that Griffee had told him on the scene, "back in the old days when someone called a cop a mother [expletive], that equaled dental work." The Sheriff's office is also not quite convinced of his innocence. From the PI:
"We still believe, as we did the day he was fired, that he punched him in the mouth," [Sheriff's Sgt. John Urquhart] said. "But this kind of like going to court. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. This arbitrator made assumptions that we don't necessarily agree with, but that how the system works."
