Clipped Wing Soars Again in Rialto

Sergeant Paul Wing is one of those guys who loves being a cop. A police officer for over 20 years, Wing joined the City of Rialto Police Department in 1990. In 1994, he was promoted to sergeant, and every one of his evaluations rated his performance as exceeding standards.

He was generally regarded as a dedicated, knowledgeable and dependable resource for peers and subordinates, and was often commended by citizens and brass for exemplary performance. No one would have imagined that Wing would be at the center of political controversy, or the subject of a major disciplinary action. Especially since he had not received any prior discipline.

Wing’s nightmare began when the City of Rialto hired San Francisco Police Commission Office of Citizen Complaints attorney, Lance Bayer. A self-described investigator “of personnel complaints,” Bayer had no law enforcement training prior to assuming leadership of the commission, and personally conducted only one investigation during his tenure, which ended when he resigned after only 11 months.

Despite having little training or experience in internal affairs investigations, the city paid Bayer to investigate a complaint by a city councilman, in which he alleged that members of the police department were plotting to frame him on DUI or drug-related charges. That investigation quickly determined there was insufficient credible evidence to conclude that any member of the department was plotting against the city councilman.

Bayer, however, seized upon a conversation between Wing and Lt. Christopher Sullivan, during which they discussed methods of handling a DUI arrest of a city council member. That conversation occurred on September 1997, shortly after Sullivan was reprimanded for allowing an officer to drive a former captain to his residence subsequent to his being stopped on suspicion of DUI.

Sullivan showed a copy of the written counseling to Wing, one of the patrol sergeants he supervised, and told Wing that, in the future, no one would be cut any more breaks because he did not want to get “dinged” again. “From now on,” Sullivan said, “all suspects that drink and drive go to jail.”

Wing asked Sullivan if his directive applied to city council members, because “there was a good chance” that two of the council members who drank often might be stopped. Wing also suggested that some procedure be implemented whereby CHP would conduct the field sobriety tests, and collect and maintain all evidence, to minimize claims of preferential treatment or conflicts of interest.

Wing suggested using an outside agency due to an incident from 10 years prior where the department was criticized publicly after a former city councilman was arrested for DUI and critical evidence was lost or destroyed.

Bayer concluded that Wing’s suggestion that a city councilman would be stopped for DUI because he was known to drink constituted conduct unbecoming an officer. He alleged that Wing’s conversation with Sullivan perpetuated rumors and that Wing “used those rumors in the course and scope of [his] duties to discuss specific contingency plans.”

Police Chief Michael Meyers delegated authority to Bayer to recommend proposed discipline. Bayer recommended that Wing be permanently demoted two ranks (to the rank of officer, bypassing corporal) and be suspended for 30 days. That recommendation also addressed an allegation, to which Wing readily admitted, that some nine months prior he failed to turn in a report in a timely fashion.

Wing appeared at a pre-disciplinary (Skelly) hearing before Meyers. The chief acknowledged that the city councilman had been the subject of rumors within the department regarding drunkenness and that those rumors reinforced Wing’s personal observations.

The chief concluded that Wing should have recognized that the times when he observed the councilman be intoxicated were “social occasions where drinking alcoholic beverages were acceptable behavior and did not involve driving.” The chief, therefore, upheld the proposed demotion and 30-day suspension.

Wing, represented by attorney Robert M. Wexler, a partner with Santa Monica based Silver, Hadden & Silver, appealed Meyers’ action. They argued that there was nothing improper about Wing’s conversation with Sullivan, which was conducted in the privacy of the watch commander’s office and in the context of training. Wexler also contacted the department’s two prior police chiefs, who both testified as to the propriety of the conversation.

They also opined that not only would no discipline be appropriate for suggesting, based on personal observations, that there was “a chance” that a councilman could get stopped for DUI, but both chiefs commended Wing for suggesting the use of an outside agency and for being sensitive to public perception.

Robert Steinberg, the neutral arbitrator mutually selected by the parties, presided over the three-day evidentiary hearing. The department offered the testimony of both Bayer and Meyers, as well as other percipient witnesses. Wing testified in his own defense and also introduced favorable testimony from several witnesses, including the two chiefs who preceded Meyers.

Steinberg delivered a written decision in which he concluded that Meyers’ rationale supporting his degree of discipline was “difficult to understand” and relied “upon after-the-fact statements and conduct to exacerbate discipline”.

In a rare denouncement of a department head’s actions, Steinberg issued a finding that the “demotion of [Wing] from sergeant to police officer, accompanied by a 30-day suspension without pay, is unsupported by the evidence record, and is eminently excessive, arbitrary, capricious, and constitutes an abuse of [Meyers’] authority.”

The arbitrator recommended that Wing be reinstated as a sergeant retroactive to the date of his demotion with full back-pay and benefits and that the 30-day suspension, save some minor discipline for the late report, be overturned and Wing’s record be appropriately rehabilitated.

When asked to comment on the arbitrator’s decision, Wing said in his characteristically quiet manner, “I’m just happy to be a sergeant again and to have this whole mess behind me.” Wing did wish to convey his appreciation to all those that supported him and added, “I never realized how valuable a resource LDF was, but when I needed it, it was there for me in a big way.”