{"article":{"id":8527,"heading":"Former Riverside Police sergeant contests arbitration","author":"Mary Shelton","created":"2001-07-08 15:58:45","modified":"2001-07-10 13:51:01","last_modified":"Tue, 10 Jul 2001 20:51:01","article":"

Last week, an arbitrator decided that former Riverside Police Department sergeant Gregory Preece should not have been fired for his role in the shooting of Tyisha Miller, on Dec. 28, 1998. Perone, who was selected from a list by both parties in the arbitration stated that the discipline received by Preece was excessive, and should have only been a demotion from the rank of sergeant and a 30 day suspension without pay. He ordered that Preece should receive back pay beginning with his firing on Sept. 1, 1999, minus the suspension.

Preece's lawyer, Goldwasser said that Preece had decided to appeal the arbitrator's ruling in superior court, to fully reverse the discipline. The city council will meet in closed session at 1:00 p.m. this Tuesday to decide whether the city will accept the decision of the arbitrator or appeal it.

Preece was fired for committing nine violations of policy and procedure in relation to his actions before, during and after the shooting of Tyisha Miller. He initially punched his code of \"scene arrival\" at 2:06 a.m. allegedly while still a mile from the gas station on the corner of Brockton and Central. He changed his version of the events several times from his first interview with the D.A.'s office, to his interview with internal affairs, to his testimony in front of the arbitrator. He stood behind Corporal Ray Soto's squad car while the shooting took place, and ordered the four shooters, Paul Bugar, Michael Alagna, Daniel Hotard and Wayne Stewart to secure the scene and process the evidence.

After David Hackman arrived to assist and commented on a gathering crowd of grieving relatives, Preece said, \"yeah, this is going to ruin their Kwanzaa,\" a comment overheard by former officer Rene Rodriguez who reported it and other slurs by these two officers to Internal Affairs. Hackman was suspended for 40 hours, without pay, appealed his suspension and later resigned from the department to join a law enforcement agency in Orange County. Preece also referred to Miller, as a \"black bitch.\" African-American officer Darryl Hurt testified that Preece was not a bigot and had made the remark under extreme stress as a form of \"gallows humor.\" Preece's counsel argued that since the comments were overheard and not said publically, there were not meant to be offensive or confrontative.

According to the report, Preece was fired, because he was unretrainable, and had taken no responsibility for his actions, as an officer or as a supervisor, the city said. Preece's counsel argued that Preece was fired due to public outcry from the 44 demonstrations that took place in protest of Miller's death, rather than his actions. And the arbitrator agreed, saying that the demotion was appropriate because Preece failed in his duties as a supervisor, but that he had not failed as a patrol officer and thus should not have been fired.

Community sentiment in the neighborhoods Preece used to police is that he should stay fired. People expressed disbelief, anger but also resignation, several saying that the whole thing was a ploy by the city to wait until apathy had set in, and then bring the involved officers back on the force.

The city has been silent on the issue since the news broke.

Alagna and Stewart also are in arbitration and a decision on their fates will be announced in the next several months. Because Hotard and Bugar were rookies at the time of their firings, they have filed lawsuits in court to be rehired.<\/p>\n","contact":"chicalocaside@yahoo.com","link":"","address":"","phone":"","parent_id":0,"mime_type":"text\/plain","summary":"Several days after an arbitrator reversed his firing, Preece's lawyer announced that his client will not settle for a demotion and 30 day suspension, but only full exoneration. The ball is now in the court of the City Council, which will meet on Tuesday in closed session to determine what position it will take, as an upset community watches.","numcomment":2,"fileurl":"\/uploads\/","filesize":null,"article_url":"\/news\/2001\/07\/8527.php"},"attachments":[],"comments":[{"id":8561,"heading":"False Propoganda","article":"As the Chairman of the Grand Jury investigation of Sgt. Preece and the others involved in the shooting of Tyisha Miller, I found it to be a terrible tragedy of circumstances, but the officers acted appropriately, within their limited level of training.\r\n \r\n Sergeant Preece was only on the scene for 20 seconds, in the middle of the implimentatioon of the officer's poorly devised plan to disarm the woman.\r\n\r\n When the Sergeant arrived, he saw another SWAT trained Corporal on scene and believed that HE would have stopped any poorly planned tactical maneuver, before it was put into place. He didn't and he was not punished by the police chief.\r\n\r\nThe termination of the officers, and the sergeant, were so egregious, that I had asked the district attorney's office to instruct the Grand Jury on how to prepare a \"Writ of Accusation\" against the chief for \"Misfeasance and Nonfeasance of Office.\" Don't judge people until ALL of the facts have been released! Believe only a third of what the \"Free Press\" reports! ","author":"Bill Burnett","parent_id":8527,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2001-07-10 02:55:55","modified":"2001-07-10 13:22:42","fileurl":""},{"id":8570,"heading":"U.N. Investigation Badly Needed","article":"\r\n Yet again, the white supremacy and arrogance that are inherent trademarks of American society have reared their ugly heads in Riverside. The only way there is going to be any lasting hint of justice for the family of Tyisha Miller will be a visit by a delegation from the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to conduct an intensive investigation into this gross human rights violation. The conduct of the government and its employees from the night of December 28, 1998 onward has consistently been in violation of International Humanitarian Laws, including both the U.N. Charter and the Geneva Convention. This is but one of a great many and rapidly growing number of examples that explain why the U.S. was given the boot off the U.N. Human Rights Commission. Other countries violate human rights, but at least most of them are making some effort to rectify their situations, unlike the U.S. which is arrogantly and steadfastly moving in the direction of fascism.","author":"Fellow Freeway Protester","parent_id":8527,"mime_type":"text\/plain","created":"2001-07-10 13:51:01","modified":"2001-07-10 14:27:57","fileurl":""}]}