Never Let The Truth Get In The Way Of A Good Story:
David Williams And BPD Commissioner Ed Davis
August 2nd, 2013 by Alan Shapiro
On June 20, highly respected Arbitrator Michael Ryan issued a decision overturning the discharge of Boston Police Officer David Williams. All of the facts are meticulously set out in the decision’s 44 pages but are briefly summarized here:
On March 16, 2009, Michael O’Brien was a Middlesex Deputy Sheriff/Corrections Officer coming off his Providence bachelor party and St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. After spending up to five hours at the Black Rose, a noted Fanueil Hall bar, he and two buddies headed to the North End, where one of them lived. While trying to back his car down Hanover Street (the major two-way thoroughfare through the densely populated commercial area), his friend crossed the double-yellow line into a double-parked BMW. The BMW owner called 911 as he saw O’Brien drive off in the car that had just struck his. His recorded 911 comments included observations that O’Brien’s group were “drunk” and that although he was a “federal agent,” they were not in any trouble.
When Officers David Williams and Diep Nguyen responded to the call, their efforts to simply have the parties exchange papers were met by the seeming drunken hostility of O’Brien and his friends.
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LABOR, THE LAW AND SOCIAL JUSTICE…
| Arbitration Decision |
Arbitrator says officer should be reinstatedThe following appeared on Bostonglobe.com:
Headline: Arbitrator rules Boston officer fired for lying, excessive force should get his job back - The Boston Globe Date: Jun 23, 2013 A Boston Police officer who was fired after the department determined he lied about excessive force during a 2009 arrest should get not only his job back, but also any financial benefits he lost because of his punishment, a state arbitrator ruled Thursday. The arbitrator concluded that it was not the officer, David C. Williams, who lied about the events that night but the man he arrested, Michael O’Brien. Williams was the first officer fired under Police Commissioner Edward Davis’s policy on untruthfulness, which applies to any employee accused of lying in court, to investigators, or in department reports. O’Brien had accused Williams of choking him then slamming him to the ground, nearly killing him. http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/06/21/arbitrator-rules-boston-officer-fired-for-lying-excessive-force-should-get-his-job-back/vTUOwmczzqWaWfqDwERcOM/story.html?s_campaign=8315 |