Fired Florida State Trooper Deserves Job Back: Hearing Officer
A state hearing officer is recommending that a fired Florida Highway Patrol trooper be given his job back.
The recommended order states that Trooper Charles Swindle should have been suspended without pay instead of losing his job.
Swindle was fired because he wrote false $10 citations for no proof of insurance to two legislators and another driver instead of ticketing them for speeding.
He was fired after one of the lawmakers complained about his citation.
Swindle’s attorney argued that the trooper was following an unwritten policy to give a break to state legislators.
The Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles disputed that any such informal policy existed – but the agency position was contradicted by testimony at a hearing held last month.
Hearing officer Gregg Riley Morton said the department — which relied on a November 2012 video from Swindle’s patrol car — proved that Swindle did not have a reason to issue the no-insurance citations.
But he also said that Swindle made a quick decision and that he was “heavily influenced” by the unwritten policy of giving a break to legislators.
“I believe Trooper Swindle was in a no-win situation having pulled over two legislators for speeding,” Morton wrote. “In attempting to make a quick decision to resolve the situation, he made a mistake in his method of showing leniency in accordance with the agency’s unwritten policy of professional courtesy toward legislator.”
Morton said that Swindle — who had been previously disciplined in his career — should have been suspended without pay for 120 hours instead of getting fired.
The department did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the order.
Last week, however, Julie Jones, the executive director of the department, said she did not know anything about an “unwritten policy.” She said troopers have the discretion to decide whether to give someone a warning. Jones added that it would undermine the credibility of the agency to have troopers issue citations for violations that do not occur.
“We give officers discretion to write a ticket or not write a ticket,” Jones said. “We do not allow officers to write tickets for things that do not happen.”
Morton’s recommended order must be considered by the Public Employees Relations Commission. If the order is upheld, however, Swindle would not only get his job back but he would eligible for back pay.
Swindle was fired in March. In November 2012, he pulled over Rep. Charles McBurney, R-Jacksonville, for driving 87 miles per hour on Interstate 10 in north Florida. Later that day, Swindle pulled over Rep. Mike Clelland, D-Lake Mary.
The video from the traffic stop shows that Swindle did not ask for insurance cards. Instead he tells the legislators he is giving them a break. That same video includes audio of Swindle talking to one of his superiors about writing the citation to McBurney. Sgt. Gary Dawson can be heard telling him to “stroke,” or write, the ticket because troopers aren’t getting a pay raise anyway.
Swindle testified that he is pursuing the case to “clear my name.” He said he has applied with several sheriff’s departments in north Florida and the Panhandle and has been unable to get a job.