Brickbat: Everyone Considered Him the Coward of the County

An arbitrator has ordered the Broward County, Florida, sheriff's office to reinstate Sgt. Brian Miller and pay him $138,410.25 in back pay. Miller was one of four deputies fired for "neglect of duty" after the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. Miller, the first supervisor on the scene, arrived as shots were still being fired. He did not enter the building but took cover behind his patrol car and did not radio in for 10 minutes.

Comments

[Rev. Arthur L. Kuckland]

This is why we have police unions. Clearly his firing was unjustified, seeing as he was under no contractual obligation to serve or protect, or uphold the law. Clearly the problem is these backwoods clingers having guns. They should all be confiscated.

[Fist of Etiquette]

An arbitration ruling found “BSO violated Sgt. Brian Miller’s constitutional due process rights and improperly terminated him,” the union said.

Everyone has a constitutional right to due process from their employer.

[JesseAz]

Odds this is one of those boards where two thirds of the deciding members are union reps or friendly political advocates.

[mad.casual]

'Effects' is an old-timey word for 'job', so 'The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects' basically protects police officer's jobs.

Also, section 230 protects free speech on the internet. James Damore and YouTube contributors who don't like it can go fuck themselves.

[Agammamon]

So you're saying 'at will' employment is unconstitutional? That we've all been breaking the law for 230 years?

No, 'effects' has never meant 'job'. It means 'personal belongings'. You don't own your job. Its not property. Its an agreement between you and the person paying you.

[Jury Nullification]

"Everyone has a constitutional right to due process from their employer."

Just like students, at universities, that actually pay to be there.

[Longtobefree]

Si it looks like judges want cops to have a lifetime appointment too.

[Longtobefree]

It was meant to be "so", but "si" works, just pretend about the comma.

[Rich]

¡Ay, caramba!

[Árboles de la Barranca]

¡Mala leche!

[Jerryskids]

The General Counsel for the sheriff’s office stood by their termination of Miller.

“The arbitrator ruled on the case without conducting any evidentiary hearing whatsoever and without taking the testimony of a single witness. The decision was based upon a technicality that we believe was wrongly decided. The arbitrator ruled on a procedural issue that BSO allegedly took too long to conduct the investigation, which is the exact opposite finding of an arbitrator that addressed this same issue in an earlier case. The Broward Sheriff’s Office is exploring all legal options to address this erroneous decision.”

Any time I hear of a cop being fired right on the spot or very soon after some egregious act is committed I know what's coming - you can't just fire a cop like that, there's a process that has to be followed. The investigation, the decision, the appeals, the whole process takes a year or more, or until the public has forgotten about the incident and the whole thing can be quietly dropped. In this case, the cop was fired some 16 months after the incident - and now the union is claiming they took too long to reach their decision to fire him. When the process doesn't work, people lose faith in the process and start thinking about taking matters into their own hands. I'm not suggesting anything, but policing is dangerous work and sometimes in the heat of the moment officers are hit by friendly fire and nobody's at fault for tragic accidents like that. Sure would be a shame - a deliciously ironic shame - if something like that were to happen to this guy.

[mad.casual]

Sure would be a shame – a deliciously ironic shame – if something like that were to happen to this guy.

Doubly so if it happened swiftly.

Reminds me of the scene from Shooter:
Agent Memphis: I'm gonna talk to Officer Timmons.
Agent Galindo: No, you're not.
Memphis: Why? 'Cause they're gonna fire me if I do?
Galindo: Timmons was killed by a mugger in an alley last night.
Memphis: In a conspiracy, all loose ends are trimmed. Jack Ruby shoots Oswald...
Galindo: Bad things happen to good people.
Memphis: Yeah, not that quickly, they don't.

[Formerly Cynical Asshole]

policing is dangerous work

Not if you cower behind your patrol car for 10 minutes before even calling for backup when called to the scene of an active shooter.

[Gray_Jay]

Lon Horiuchi is still running around in San Antonio. The idiot fat sheriff's deputy who tried to shoot a rattlesnake out of a tree with his service pistol, killing a 6 year old in the lot next door, is back on the job after his manslaughter conviction got expunged. The officers who burned that toddler's face off with a stun grenade during their no-knock raid, are still outside, alive and well. May not even have been fired. The officers who killed Rhogenia Nichols and Dennis Tuttle, with Tuttle being executed by a sniper, some 30-odd minutes after his initial crippling wounds, are not in jail, and are on the job or medically retired. The guy who lied about there being dope in the house, he's in jail, but the other shooters? Fine.

Nothing happens to these guys, and nothing will. Not surprising when if something were to happen to them, the people seeking revenge would be vilified, killed during apprehension, or put on a fast track to the needle.

Maybe God brings justice in the next world. It doesn't happen here.

[Jury Nullification]

"Sure would be a shame – a deliciously ironic shame – if something like that were to happen to this guy."

It would not be surprising, but tragic nonetheless, that an ardent defender of children would take matters into their own hands. Finding it especially egregious that these children were snuffed out due to state agent cowardice and abdication of duties. The deputy's depraved actions stand in stark contrast to the context of a child suffering at the hands of pedophiles who engender visceral ire. There needs to be some official punishment of this deputy, for his own safety, in order to quell bad actors. One can only imagine how the parents of the murdered children feel about it.

Deputy was probably fired with a wink and a nod. If he does not immediately retire then his comrades must not harbor any hostility toward him.

[Agammamon]

I’m not suggesting anything, but policing is dangerous work and sometimes in the heat of the moment officers are hit by friendly fire and nobody’s at fault for tragic accidents like that. Sure would be a shame – a deliciously ironic shame – if something like that were to happen to this guy.

If cops actually policed their own like that then people would be a lot more tolerant of union meddling.

But they don't. They don't police their own at all.

[Earth Skeptic]

A teachable moment:

See, kids, as long as you work for the state, have a politically powerful guild, and no morals, you can have a lucrative career.

[Case of the Mondays]

Well he clearly isn’t good at his job. Desk duty would be appropriate. Few can say what they’ll do when they are under fire for the first time. But if you’re a cop or a soldier and your first reaction is to hide well then you suck at your job.

[sarcasmic]

Police have two priorities: total compliance and officer safety. They have a zero-tolerance policy for anything that could compromise those things. That's why they immediately escalate situations when someone fails to obey. Zero tolerance for noncompliance. As far as the shooting goes, he was only following his training. If he put himself in danger he could be fired for putting officer safety at risk. So he only did what he was trained to do.

[darkflame]

the issue is that now everyone knows he's a coward, and anyone who recognizes him will probably be either non-compliant or antagonistic. I wouldn't be surprised if we see an officer-involved shooting pop up sometime in the next few months after someone tells him to go fuck himself and attempts to leave

[sarcasmic]

Cops are used to initiating force on unarmed people for failure to obey. They don't enforce the law. They enforce their will. So when faced with an actual threat they don't know what to do. That's not their job. Their job is to be a bully. So this guy didn't do anything wrong if you look at it from that point of view.

[Gray_Jay]

Nobody will remember his name one week after it's out of the news.

[Brandybuck]

There's nothing wrong with being a coward. And sometimes you don't know if you're a coward until the shit hits the fan. But dammit, people who are cowards should not be sheriffs, deputies, or police officers.

No, it's not fair that he got fired, but life is not fair. The ONE time we needed him to do his job he couldn't do it. If he were man enough he would admit that to himself and not be hiding behind the skirts of the union.

[Jury Nullification]

"No, it’s not fair that he got fired, but life is not fair."

It was too fair. He accepted his pay for 18 years under the false pretense that he would defend those in need. No fucking humility.

[Brandybuck]

I meant "not fair" in terms of whiny progressives complaining that the structure of the universe has it in for them.

[Compelled Speechless]

He didn't really sue because of wrongful termination. He was disgraced as a coward on national media, so he needed to steal more money from the children and tax payers he failed to prove that he really does have some balls.

[Rockstevo]

This is an example we should point to when they talk about police should be compensated like military because they put their life on the line. If a soldier had pulled this crap he would be court martialed for cowardice before the enemy and could face the death penalty. This guy gets his job and back pay.

[sarcasmic]

Putting their life on the line is one of the few things that can get a cop fired. Officer safety is number one.

[Compelled Speechless]

If they don't don't have a duty to do what I pay them for, do I still have a duty to pay them?

[Brandybuck]

There's a reason soldiers don't have a union.

[StackOfCoins]

$138,410.25 in back pay.

Jesus Christ. Parkland was just 2 years ago. $70k annually for this rookie shit?