McAlester News-Capital, McAlester, OK

Local News

July 24, 2009

Fired officer back on the beat

By Kandra Wells

A McAlester police officer who was fired in September after his arrest for drunk driving will be back on the job Saturday.

Chris Morris returns to his post as a police sergeant following a May 12 arbitration hearing through the police union. McAlester Police Chief Jim Lyles was notified earlier this week of the decision to reinstate Morris with full back pay, except for a 10-day suspension.

“He’s back right now,” Lyles said Thursday. “He’s on days off right now. He will start at 7 a.m. Saturday morning.”

“It feels good. I feel like I got my life back,” Morris said this morning.

Prior to his arrest, Morris had been selected as the Officer of the Year for the McAlester Police Department and served as president of local FOP Lodge 97, which represents members of the police department.

Morris also served as sergeant in charge of the overnight patrol shift and as a SWAT team commander.

Morris was first placed on paid suspension and then was terminated by the police department after his Aug. 10 arrest for driving while under the influence of alcohol, failure to signal and failure to stop at a stop sign. The 12-year veteran had been off duty and singing with a band at the local Elks Lodge before his arrest.

Morris pleaded no contest on Oct. 21 to the misdemeanor DUI and traffic charges and judgment and sentencing were deferred for a year. He was also fined $200 and was ordered to attend a Victim’s Impact Panel and DUI school, and to obtain a drug and alcohol evaluation.

City Manager Mark Roath said Morris filed a grievance under the collective bargaining agreement between the city and the police union. “It required an arbitration hearing, and evidence was presented on both sides and the ruling was in his favor,” Roath said.

Lyles was among several people who testified at the May 12 hearing at City Hall. Others included arresting officer Greg Read, Capt. Shawn Smith, Lt. Jeff McKee, Morris and officer Bobby Coggins, who testified as a union witness.

“It was quite lengthy,” Lyles said of the hearing.

Morris said this morning he had been cautioned by his Fraternal Order of Police union attorney against discussing the case, but he was glad to be back at work.

“There’s so much more to this story that people don’t know about,” he said. “But the attorney said to just leave it.”

State FOP Attorney Jim Moore of Oklahoma City did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

An arbitration signed by Charles Greer of Fort Worth, Texas, states Morris’ firing violated the city’s collective bargaining agreement with the FOP because the city did not have cause to terminate Morris.

“While the Grievant’s conduct violated City rules and regulations, termination was too severe,” Greer wrote in his conclusion. “However, the Grievant should not take this decision for reinstatement as an endorsement of his conduct. As a police officer he has a responsibility to refrain from the conduct that led to his operation of a vehicle with an excessive amount of alcohol in his system and to conduct himself in a manner that does not discredit the Police Department and his fellow officers.”

Morris tested a .08 breath alcohol content, according to Read.

In his arresting affidavit Read said he had been alerted before Morris left the Elks Lodge that Morris had “drank quite a few beers.”

The arbitration ruling reinstates Morris to his former position, reduces his termination to a 10-day suspension without pay, and rules Morris “to be made whole with back pay, seniority, and benefits to which he was entitled, less the ten-day period of his unpaid suspension.”

“Yes, that is fair,” Morris said this morning.

Contact Kandra Wells at kwells@mcalesternews.com.

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