A former State Highway Patrol sergeant fired for kicking his police dog during training should get his job back, the State Personnel Commission said today.
The commission found that the patrol had failed to prove that Sgt. Charles L. Jones' actions constituted personal misconduct, or that he had abused the dog, Ricoh. Jones should also receive back pay, the commission said.
A 12-year veteran of the patrol, Jones was dismissed in September 2007 after a video of him kicking Ricoh, then a 7-year-old Belgian Malinois, had surfaced, Dan Kane reports. The patrol initially planned to discipline him with a lesser penalty, but dismissed him after the governor's office got involved.
Jones fought the dismissal at an administrative hearing in April, saying he was only following training methods other troopers had used. More than a dozen troopers testified and spoke of rough obedience techniques such as swinging or hanging dogs by their leads, shocking them with stun guns and throwing rock-filled bottles at them. Patrol policies provided little guidance in training techniques.
Senior Administrative Law Judge Fred G. Morrison sided with Jones, saying the governor's office had placed undue pressure on the patrol to fire Jones. The commission did not agree with that finding.
More after the jump.
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State officials could not be reached for comment on whether they would appeal the decision. Jones is now an officer with the Apex Police Department.
The testimony at Jones' hearing caused patrol officials to suspend the canine unit. They have said they may try to bring a modified version of the unit back that only uses dogs to sniff drugs.
The News & Observer on Sunday reported that more than 240 training reports submitted by Jones in the 18 months leading up to the kicking incident showed no indication that Ricoh was a problem. Those reports did not become part of the hearing because the patrol had not turned them over to Jones' attorney or the Attorney General's office, which defended the patrol.
Under state law, the commission could not consider that information because it was not part of the official record of the case.
Ricoh was not injured from the five kicks Jones gave him, a veterinary examination showed. Ricoh has been retired from the patrol.
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Re: Commission: Trooper should NOT get job back
Abuse of animals is wrong whether one is a trooper or a regular person.
Everyone knows this behavior is a sign of an unbalanced person and often a serial killer.
I find it offensive that North Carolina would support animal cruelty.
What's happened to the dog? Did they kill it?