Mammoth Lakes Sergeant Reinstated By Arbitrator

Posted by Rob Sergi

Before I got involved in this case, I thought karma and astrology were just a lot of hocus pocus and the people who believed that those mythical concepts could really have an effect on their lives were just a little goofy. Well, goofy, I’m a believer now! Whether it was astrology, karma, fate or just bad decisions by the Town, by the time the dust would settle on this case, Sergeant Eric Hugelman would be reinstated; the Chief of Police who chose to fire Eric would be sent packing; the second-in-charge who testified on Eric’s behalf would be forced to retire; the Town’s Risk Manager who participated in the hearing against Eric would be laid off; an Inyo County Deputy District Attorney who filed criminal charges against Sergeant Hugelman (which were later dismissed) would be unceremoniously fired from his job; and the Town Manager would soon depart to another job.

On May 21, 2009, Sergeant Eric Hugelman — a highly respected and dedicated 18-year veteran of the Mammoth Lakes Police Department — along with his wife, Christy; Mammoth Lakes Police Officer Dan Casabian; and his date, Kehley, had plans to attend the Inyo County Mule Days celebration and concert at the fairgrounds in Bishop, California. But Christy’s horoscope told her it was a bad idea and warned her that events that day would forever change her life. Christy, the believer, couldn’t convince Eric, the ex-non-believer, not to go out that night. The events that followed that evening did change the lives of nearly everyone involved in this case.

Since it was a weekday, which meant work for Christy and school for the kids the next day, the Hugelmans intended to make it an early night. The plan was to attend the concert, perhaps grab a beer, then go home and get ready for the next day.

If the Hugelmans had a crystal ball, they should have brought it, because as the events unfolded that night and the weeks to follow, the ex-Chief of Police, the Town Manager, the Town Council, the ex-Risk Manager, the press, the Internal Affairs Investigator (Mono County District Attorney Investigator Wade McCammond), many fellow Mammoth Lakes police officers and everyone in Mammoth Lakes with an opinion thought they did have a crystal ball. Because Sergeant Hugelman “failed to see events on the horizon” (actual language in the Notice of Termination), Sergeant Hugelman and his family would spend the next 18 months struggling to make ends meet, with Eric fighting for his job back after his termination for three counts of conduct unbecoming (the only allegations of misconduct).

While at the concert, Dan and Eric had a very brief encounter with Dan’s estranged wife, Emily, and two of her friends, Crystal and Kasha. Even this unremarkable event would come under intense scrutiny. It was alleged Sergeant Hugelman asked Crystal, who is a long-time family acquaintance and former babysitter, “Why don’t you and your mom say hi to us anymore?” That alleged, innocuous comment would turn out to be the basis of one count of conduct unbecoming. To Eric, the encounter was so insignificant he did not even remember saying anything to Crystal. The testimony of Crystal, Kasha and Emily about that chance meeting seemed to describe three entirely different events. In other words, none of the three proved to be credible. But the most troubling aspect of the lack of credibility of those witnesses was that the Chief and Investigator McCammond relied on those statements and others made by Emily that could not be corroborated by any other witnesses. Most of the statements made by Emily proved to be pure fabrication, yet her stories appeared to have played a pivotal role in the Chief’s final decision.

After the concert, Eric and Christy left the fairgrounds intending to go home, but decided to make a quick stop at their camper parked nearby and along the Mule Day Parade route being held the next day. Eric wanted to stow some chairs and spray for ants. Before they could leave, Dan and his date, Kehley, rejoined them. Even though Christy, the designated driver, didn’t want to go, she was convinced to drive the group to have “just one drink.” The four loaded up in the family wagon and landed at the world-famous Rusty’s bar in the hustle and bustle of downtown Bishop.

The bar was packed with patrons, most fellow concertgoers, and was described as shoulder-to-shoulder with people. Included in that throng of revelry were Emily Casabian and her band of followers. Sergeant Hugelman and Christy saw Emily and thought it was interesting that Dan’s estranged wife and new girlfriend were at the same bar. Those concerns were quickly extinguished when they saw the two of them laughing and sharing drinks together. This is when that crystal ball would have come in handy, because within minutes of witnessing that jovial merriment, the same two women who were having such a great time together would be yelling, screaming and pawing at each other. According to the Chief and Investigator McCammond, this was one of those events that Eric should have seen on the horizon and left the bar and somehow forced another off-duty officer and his girlfriend to leave, too. Instead, he stepped in-between the two female combatants and prevented the fight from becoming a full-blown brawl by grabbing Emily by the arm and pushing Kehley away. Along with not leaving sooner, that action earned him his second count of conduct unbecoming because, according to the same Chief and Investigator and all the other Monday-morning quarterbacks, he should have grabbed Kehley, the girlfriend, instead of Emily, the ex-wife.

Eric and now Dan were able to keep the two women from hurting each other and Eric, Christy, Dan and Kehley headed for the door. Upon the group exiting the rear door, Eric and Christy walked straight to their car that was parked about 150 yards away. Dan stopped to console Kehley, who was still fuming about what happened inside. Dan and Kehley did start going to the car, but Dan was sidetracked when he saw the wife of one of his friends. While Dan stopped to greet her, Kehley continued her jaunt to the Hugelman vehicle and she, too, got inside to wait for Dan. Meanwhile, Dan couldn’t quite make it to the vehicle without getting involved in a totally unrelated verbal altercation that would eventually turn physical and embroil Eric and Dan in this unbelievable odyssey.

Unbeknownst to those already in the car, as Dan was making his way through the parking lot he encountered his friend’s wife and while talking to her, he was confronted by two young men, both no strangers to the local law enforcement community. Dan greeted his friend with a hug which for some unknown reason the Bobbsey Twins took offense to. One of the two yelled at Dan to get away from her and announced that she was married. Dan acknowledged this simple-minded colloquy and responded that he was friends with her husband. Dan’s friendly response was met with a hail of profane and provocative dialogue, including references of doing something to Dan’s ass. Dan replied in kind, and then this fledgling relationship went far south from there.

Meanwhile, back at the car Eric, Christy and Kehley were waiting somewhat impatiently, but then they realized Dan was still in the parking lot. They saw things were not going well for Dan, but that they had not yet turned physical. Christy, having had her fill of drama that night, ordered Eric and Kehley to stay in the car. Eric listened; Kehley didn’t. Not only did Kehley not stay in the car as she was told, she promptly interjected herself into the ruckus. After alighting from the vehicle, Kehley observed at least two or three guys advancing towards Dan. Kehley punched two of the three. One, as it turned out, was an innocent bystander who was trying to prevent a fight, but the second one was one of the two amigos messing with her boyfriend.

The events to follow led to the third count of conduct unbecoming against Eric. After Kehley landed the two punches, the other half of the original two amigos came after her. Dan — totally oblivious to the fact his little blond dynamo had just punched two guys — intervened to prevent Kehley from being assaulted by her attacker. Dan restrained the would-be assailant and let him go after pleas of “don’t hurt him” from the guy’s wife. As soon as Dan did let the poor little fellow go, he immediately turned on Dan. Eric — still ignorant of the full complexity of the rumpus — dutifully remained in the car with Christy.

Although it was never quite clear how or why, Kehley ended up on the ground and was bleeding from a pretty nasty head wound. At this time, seeing Kehley down and out in Bishop, first Christy then Eric exited the vehicle to render aid to Kehley. As Eric stepped out to help, he observed Dan wrapped up with the other amigo, who was about to hit Dan in the proverbial snot-locker.

Like any cop (or just about anyone, for that matter), Eric grabbed the guy who was about to hit his fellow officer and friend. Without throwing a single punch, not delivering a kick, elbow or any other body part, Eric restrained Dan’s attacker and took him to the ground. Once the guy calmed down, Eric let him up and he fled the scene as Bishop P.D. was rolling up Code 3. However, when Eric grabbed this fellow, he himself had been struck in the face by an unknown person, resulting in a chipped tooth, a very fat lip and a bloody nose. Eric described the hit as “just short of a knock-out blow” and that it rang his bell. It was never determined who hit Eric. This entire event lasted perhaps one minute, but Eric’s personal involvement was about 10 seconds. Bishop P.D. units arrived long after the fighting had ceased.

Eric, who was still feeling the effects of getting punched in the face, managed to get himself back into the right front passenger seat. Christy was driving, and finally Dan and Kehley got into the vehicle. As Bishop P.D. officers — one of whom was a sergeant — arrived, they stopped the car containing the now-bloody and bruised group and detained the four occupants. Once detained, Eric had a very brief conversation with the sergeant, who stood away from the vehicle while Eric remained sitting inside. Based on this contact, that same sergeant would later describe Sergeant Hugelman as drunk to the point of being 647f. The basis for that opinion was never fully established during the internal affairs investigation. The Sergeant would testify during the hearing that he made that assessment because of the odor of alcohol and Hugelman “leaning” against the vehicle, even though Hugelman was never leaning against the vehicle. The Chief and Investigator didn’t let the fact Hugelman was never leaning on the vehicle deter them from coming to the conclusion Sergeant Hugelman was drunk.

It was somewhat understandable that the Sergeant came to the opinion that perhaps Sergeant Hugelman was drunk based on his limited contact with him, but the Chief and Investigator McCammond cannot be given the same courtesy or the benefit of a doubt for arriving at that same conclusion. The Bishop Sergeant didn’t have the same information that the Chief and Investigator would know before they made their determination. Here’s what the Bishop Sergeant had no way of knowing, but the Chief was fully aware of, and is irrefutable proof that Sergeant Hugelman was not drunk and certainly not to the level of being 647f: Within the time span of five minutes before Bishop P.D. arrived on scene, Sergeant Hugelman had broken up a fight between two women in the bar, escorted one of those women out of the bar, walked over 150 yards on his own and unassisted to his vehicle, opened the rear door, retrieved a bottle of water, saved his friend from getting his face bashed in and got hit so hard in the face it nearly knocked him out. Having that knowledge about Sergeant Hugelman’s actions, plus numerous independent witnesses saying that just before they left the bar they talked to Eric and said he wasn’t drunk, the Chief and Investigator McCammond decided he must have been drunk because he was at the bar. Based on those events, Eric was fired and Dan received a hefty suspension.

Notwithstanding the outlandish stories in the local papers, or the wild rumors circulating throughout the P.D. and Town, or the pressure exerted on the Chief by the Town Manager, that’s it, that’s all there was that led the Chief to terminate Sergeant Hugelman. Even the former Chief and Lieutenant told the Chief not to fire him because Eric didn’t deserve it. With warnings from this writer that termination couldn’t be justified and the Town would be wasting a lot of precious funds needlessly, the Chief buckled under the pressure from the Town Manager and upheld his own decision after the Skelly hearing.

The Town’s main premise was that Sergeant Hugelman demonstrated poor judgment for going to the bar, that he was drunk and that he used poor judgment for breaking up a fight between two women and preventing his friend from getting hit. The Town also made a feeble attempt at portraying those actions as a violation of the law enforcement code of ethics. PORAC’s LDF funded the appeal that took 13 days over a six-month period and included over a dozen witnesses, two expert witnesses, two separate motions and a lot of contentious bickering between the attorneys. None of the evidence or testimony offered by the Town could stand in the face of reason and scrutiny. Sergeant Hugelman was able to present numerous witnesses that refuted all of the Town’s evidence. In the end, the arbitrator decided that the Town was not able to prove its entire case (he did determine that Sergeant Hugelman should not have gone to the bar) and that the discipline was excessive. Sergeant Hugelman was ordered to be reinstated with back-pay, minus a suspension (still excessive, in my opinion). Nonetheless, Sergeant Hugelman has been ordered back to work. After the arbitrator’s decision, the Town made overtures to reopen the investigation. PORAC’s LDF acted promptly again and agreed to fund a writ to compel the Town to comply with the decision. The Town has since capitulated on its desire to “reinvestigate” and has agreed to comply with the decision and reinstate Sergeant Hugelman with back-pay.

On behalf of Sergeant Hugelman, I wish to thank everyone who has supported Eric throughout this ordeal. First and foremost: his wife, Christy, and his children Haily and Emmit. Also, PORAC and LDF, for sticking with him and giving his attorneys the resources to fight the fight, and his true friends at the P.D., including Dan, Mark Moscowitz, Jim Short and retired-Chief Mike Donnelly, who remained staunch supporters and always stayed positive. Their support and words of encouragement made tough times a little easier.