SANTA MARIA JUDGE GORES CITY ADMINISTRATOR
FOR TERMINATING INNOCENT OFFICER
As our avid readers will recall, we previously
chronicled the saga of fired Santa Maria Officer Tom Radzyminski, whose Petition
for Writ of Mandate to overturn the termination was granted by
Superior Court Judge Zel Canter on January 5, 2000. Radzyminski, who
previously served with great distinction in the U.S. Marine Corps, and
the LAPD, was discharged for backing his unit into a mailbox while en
route to an urgent call, and allegedly lying about it. In granting the Writ,
Judge Canter found no merit to the findings of city administrator Tim
Ness, whose decision was rubber-stamped by the City Council.
After our story went to press, the city filed a Motion
for New Trial to be heard on March 15, 2000. The city should have
better heeded the soothsayer of Shakespeare, who bid Caesar,
"Beware the Ides of March!" In a devastating carving that
would have earned the admiration of Brutus and Cassius, Judge Canter
sliced through the City's specious arguments, and left no doubt that he
sought to bury, not praise, Ness along with his tainted decision.
Judge Canter described Ness' strained efforts to find
Radzyminski guilty of misconduct as "disingenuous", stating
that Ness "went out of his way to find that the police officer
lied. I found that to be abhorrent and rejected it out of hand."
Ness, he said, was "a corporate man, ready to sacrifice the
individual's rights..., in my opinion the worst kind possible to be in
any position of a judicial office of any sort." Ness' tortured
reasoning, he continued, was "so faulty that it was an abuse of his
powers."
Notwithstanding that the court had exonerated
Radzyminski of misconduct, the city's lawyers frivolously claimed that
they would have to shield Radzyminski from field duties,
incomprehensibly citing "Pitchess" considerations.
Judge Canter abruptly scolded them, stating that their problem lay in
the pathetic lack of justification given by Ness for the termination,
and that they should "get a better hearing officer next time you
want to railroad somebody out of the department." Deftly delivering
the ultimate coup de grace, Judge Canter concluded that Ness
"should be a tobacco executive."
After denying the city's Motion, Judge Canter
drafted an Order finding Radzyminski "factually innocent of
the charges brought against him", and sternly revisited the city's
asserted position that Radzyminski would have to be confined to a desk
job:
"It is clear to the court by the argument of
counsel for respondents...that despite petitioner's exoneration by this
court, and his exemplary record of service, the city does not intend to
comply with the court's decision and to fully reinstate petitioner, but
instead to regard him as a sort of pariah to be confined to desk jobs.
If such harassing conduct does indeed take place, petitioner will not be
without a remedy."
Bill Hadden, of Silver, Hadden & Silver, led the
fight to forge the Superior Court victory. The city, shamelessly intent
on continuing to waste its taxpayers' money, immediately filed an appeal
to delay Radzyminski's return to work, validating Judge Canter's
assessment of its despicable behavior. LDF will continue to support
Radzyminski in his fight for justice, and we will accordingly keep our
readers posted.
LDF Home Page | News
Article Index
