Derek Wheeler, a Springfield police officer
who pleaded guilty to driving drunk in October 2003, now earns time
and a half pay working overtime patrolling for other drunk drivers,
according to a sources in legal and law enforcement professions.
The irony apparently isn’t lost on
Chief Don Kliment, who was inspired by Wheeler’s case to
formally notify the Policemen’s Benevolent and Protective
Agency Unit 5 that discipline under his administration may differ
from standards set by previous chiefs.
Wheeler, whose October 2003 arrest capped an
11-hour binge that started at a 6 p.m. police union meeting and
continued at local bars through 3 a.m., was stopped around 5 a.m.
when another officer noticed Wheeler’s truck
weaving from lane to lane. Inside were not only a supply of beer from
Wheeler’s home fridge, but also a woman with a history of
prostitution-related arrests, whom Wheeler had just picked up in an
area known for prostitution.
He pleaded guilty to DUI and was fired by
Kliment, but appealed his dismissal. In February, Wheeler was
reinstated by an arbitrator who decided that Wheeler’s
punishment had to match similar offenses.
The arbitrator cited the case of SPD Officer
Don Loftus, whose blood alcohol tested 0.255 after he left a bar
driving the wrong way down a one-way street and collided with
another motorist in May 2002. Then-chief John Harris gave Loftus
three days off without pay. The arbitrator ruled that Wheeler’s
punishment should be the same and that SPD had to rehire Wheeler and
reimburse his missed pay.
The only way Wheeler could have been fired,
according to the arbitrator, was if Kliment had previously notified
the police union that “some specified conduct will no longer
be tolerated, or will be treated more seriously in the future than
it has been in the past.”
The ruling meant SPD had to give Wheeler all
the rights afforded any other officer, including the opportunity to
work DUI “hire-back” patrol. But Kliment took steps to
ensure this same situation can’t reoccur.
Sgt. Bob Markovic, union president, confirmed
that Kliment sent the PBPA a letter notifying members that he would
“not be bound by past discipline” standards set by
former chief Harris.
Both Kliment and Markovic declined to comment
further.
This article appears in Aug 11-17, 2005.
