For the Los Angeles County Fireplace Division, it’s a transparent crimson line: firefighters can not assault their neighbors.
That’s why the division fired Adam Clint, a longtime Santa Clarita hearth captain, whose heated off-duty dispute with a person a number of doorways down landed him with a felony assault conviction.
“By assaulting your neighbor and being convicted of a felony, you engaged in conduct unbecoming a hearth captain,” Deputy Fireplace Chief Thomas Ewald wrote in a January 2023 termination letter. “Your misconduct embarrassed and discredited the Division.”
However the Fireplace Division might quickly must take Clint again.
In February, the L.A. County Civil Service Fee voted unanimously to reinstate Clint, 51, and award him greater than two years of again pay.
The commissioners discovered that there wasn’t sufficient proof to help accusations that Clint referred to as his neighbor, who’s Black, the N-word and brandished a gun earlier than knocking him to the bottom. In addition they discovered that Clint was burdened by the “aggressive” demeanor and “threatening” phrases of the neighbor, Robert Pope.
“His misconduct on July 3, 2021 was an remoted, uncharacteristic lapse in judgment not more likely to be repeated,” the fee’s listening to officer wrote in his report, which really useful downgrading Clint’s punishment to a 30-day suspension.
The Fireplace Division is interesting the choice, submitting a petition in L.A. County Superior Court docket on April 14 stating that it was “effectively inside the Division’s discretion” to fireside Clint. It’s unclear the place Clint, who took dwelling $295,000, together with advantages, the 12 months of the assault, can be assigned if he returns to the division.
Steve Haney, Clint’s legal professional, stated his shopper feels deep regret for hitting Pope however denies ever pointing a gun or calling him a racial slur. A choose decreased Clint’s felony assault conviction to a misdemeanor, which was later expunged from his file.
“The man doesn’t have a racist bone in his physique,” stated Haney, who questioned why the county was spending cash on exterior attorneys to maintain Clint out of a job. “It’s a ridiculous waste of taxpayer cash.”
Within the final 4 years, the civil service fee has compelled division heads to take again dozens of staff they’d tried to fireside — together with sheriff’s deputies, probation staffers and social staff — costing the county tens of millions in again pay, information present.
Of the roughly 65 workers the fee has moved to reinstate since 2021, almost two-thirds had been peace officers from the Sheriff’s or Probation departments, in line with a overview of the fee’s minutes and annual experiences.
The fee is made up of 5 members, every appointed by an L.A. County supervisor, who serve for $150 a gathering.
The town of Los Angeles has an identical fee, in addition to Board of Rights panels for police officer self-discipline. The union that represents rank-and-file Los Angeles Police Division officers efficiently pushed for the passage of a poll measure permitting for extra civilians on Board of Rights panels after a research confirmed that civilians had been routinely extra lenient on drawback cops than their fellow cops had been.
John Donner, president of the county civil service fee, stated he and his colleagues usually agree with the departments’ disciplinary choices. He characterised the connection between county departments and the fee as “fairly civil.” In 2023, the fee upheld roughly three out of 4 disciplinary choices.
After Jim McDonnell grew to become sheriff in 2014, he began suing to problem the fee’s reinstatements of deputies who had been fired for mendacity, saying he didn’t know the place to assign a deputy who would lack the credibility to testify in courtroom.
Robert Luna, who has been sheriff since 2022, has not filed any petitions contesting the fee’s choices relating to his deputies, courtroom information present.
Probation Chief Guillermo Viera Rosa has fought in courtroom to overturn two fee choices.
One concerned an worker fired in 2021 for purchasing a lobster lunch for a minor who wasn’t on her caseload and repeatedly visiting an imprisoned gang member with out approval. A choose ordered the fee in April to rethink that call. Within the different case, which is ongoing, a deputy was fired in 2019 after video footage confirmed he lied a couple of minor beating him up.
In 2022, the fee introduced again probation bureau chief Hellen Carter, who was fired, partially, for mendacity to colleagues about being a psychiatrist, a coroner, a Professional Bass fisherman, a trauma surgeon, an Olympic swimmer, an acrobatic pilot and an Military vet who had misplaced 70% of her listening to from a bomb blast in Afghanistan, in line with her disciplinary discover. The fee discovered that the choice to fireside her was primarily based on “false and unreliable allegations.”
The Probation Division sued to cease her reinstatement, saying she was a “blight and legal responsibility” and her habits was “egregious and protracted (not quirky).” The division misplaced.
Carter didn’t reply to an electronic mail. When she returned to the county in 2024, she collected greater than half one million {dollars} in backpay, in line with wage information.
The neighborhood spat spiraled uncontrolled nearly instantly.
On July 3, 2021, Pope’s spouse referred to as him to say that Clint had simply berated her for dashing on their Santa Clarita cul-de-sac.
Pope stated he stopped by Clint’s home, and the 2 bought right into a heated argument within the doorway, culminating with the captain pointing a gun at him and yelling to “get the f— off my property,” punctuated with a racial slur.
Clint went inside his home and reemerged with a gun, in line with Pope. As Pope retreated to his automobile, the place his two 14-year-old stepdaughters had been ready, Clint knocked him out from behind, leaving him on the bottom till he regained consciousness, Pope stated. He stated he later found a footprint-shaped bruise on his again.
Clint initially denied to sheriff’s deputies that he had hit Pope, however later admitted to punching him within the head.
After giving an announcement to the deputies that morning, Pope arrived at his sister’s funeral, the place he was purported to be a pallbearer, simply as everybody was leaving.
Tensions between Clint’s and Pope’s households worsened. In 2022, Clint sued Pope and his spouse, Rozanna Avetyan, in addition to L.A. County, arguing that the sheriff’s deputies and hearth officers had been biased in favor of Pope primarily based on “his African American Ancestry.” Clint additionally alleged within the lawsuit that he was not afforded due course of, “clearly as a consequence of his Caucasian race.” The case was dismissed.
Pope sued a 12 months later for battery. That case is ongoing.
Pope and his spouse stated the household has struggled to maneuver on from that day, changing into so reluctant to go away the home that they gave away their canine in order that they wouldn’t must encounter Clint on walks. They finally determined to maneuver away.
“I simply don’t perceive how he bought his job again,” Pope stated. “It’s simply mind-blowing.”
