# Fired Police Office Must Be Reinstated



## Transformer (Sep 14, 2018)

BRIDGEPORT — The city has been ordered to rehire a veteran city police officer fired because of his arrest in 2016 on charges of assaulting a man at a Fairfield motel and then driving drunk.

*Related Stories*






 Cop fired over assault arrest 
 Cop charged with assault, DUI remains on payroll 
 City pays settlements in police brutality cases 
An arbitrator ruled Chief Armando Perez did not have just cause when he fired Omar Jimenez last March. The arbitrator, a member of the American Arbitration Association, said instead Perez should have suspended Jimenez for 90 days without pay.

“We are reviewing the decision and looking at our options,” said City Attorney R. Christopher Meyer.

“This is extremely disappointing,” said Perez. “It was a serious offense in my opinion and I couldn’t justify his actions and that’s why I terminated him.”

Jimenez, 34, a 16-year veteran of the police force was fired by Perez following an investigation by the city’s Office of Internal Affairs.

Police said in the early morning of Sept. 5, 2016, Jimenez went to the Fairfield Circle Inn and punched a friend in the face during an argument. Then, driving his own car, Jimenez allegedly struck a fire hydrant at Fairfield and Courtland avenues, knocked it off its base and fled the scene, returning to the Circle Inn, police said.

Bridgeport police went to the Circle Inn and located Jimenez in the hotel parking lot. Police said Jimenez had bloodshot eyes, was unsteady on his feet and was swaying and there was an odor of alcohol. He failed field sobriety tests administered by Bridgeport officers, police said.

He was subsequently arrested by Fairfield police on the charges of second-degree assault, second-degree threatening, and disorderly conduct, and he was charged by Bridgeport police with driving under the influence, evading responsibility and failure to drive right. Police said the assault victim suffered serious eye damage.

Criminal charges were later dropped against Jimenez after he successfully completed accelerated rehabilitation, a pretrial probation program.

In 2015, Jimenez was suspended for 30 days and ordered to undergo counseling after he failed a department drug test.


----------



## discodumpling (Sep 15, 2018)

Soooo hes been a cop since hes 18 yrs old? Let's start with that part.


----------



## Transformer (Sep 16, 2018)

So it is almost impossible to fir3 a cop.  He can do drugs, drive drunk, beat up a person and he still qualifies to be a cop.


----------



## Crackers Phinn (Sep 16, 2018)

^pretty much.


----------

