Judge rules against reinstating police officer after fight

SEATTLE – A judge has vacated an arbitrator’s ruling that ordered the Seattle Police Department to reinstate an officer who was fired for punching a drunk, handcuffed woman after she kicked him during a 2014 incident captured on patrol car video, the Seattle Times reports .

King County Superior Court Judge John McHale found in a ruling released late Friday that the arbitrator’s Nov. 30 decision to order the city to reduce Officer Adley Shepherd’s firing to a 15-day suspension and put him back on the job amounted to discipline so lenient it “violates the explicit, dominant and well-defined public policy against the use of excessive force in policing,” the newspaper says.

Mayor Jenny Durkan and City Attorney Pete Holmes praised McHale’s ruling.

The Seattle Police Officer’s Guild says it plans to immediately appeal “this decision as it will negatively impact all public sector union contracts.”

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Information from: The Seattle Times, http://www.seattletimes.com