Stephen Barone, a Hartford police officer who was fired after being caught on video telling a group of young men that he felt “trigger happy,” has filed a grievance against his termination.
The City of Hartford confirmed the grievance has been filed but there has not yet been a hearing.
The release of the video in which Barone told a group of young people that if they wanted to fight or run he was feeling “a little trigger happy” touched off a media firestorm that ultimately resulted in Barone’s termination from the department.
Barone had been previously disciplined for turning off his body camera during a chase that resulted in a fellow officer kicking a man who was handcuffed on the ground and for failing to call off a chase on Interstate 91, according to the Hartford Courant.
It is unclear if the Hartford Police Union is representing Barone in the grievance or if he has retained his own legal representation. Requests for comment to the Hartford Police Union were not returned.
According the Hartford Police Union contract, any grievance that involves termination will automatically begin at the third step of the grievance process, which involves presenting the grievance to the Chief of Police and Director of Human Resources.
Then, if the union is not satisfied with the decision by the Chief of Police and Human Resources, the union submits the grievance for arbitration and files a notice of appeal with the State Board of Mediation and Arbitration. The appeal can also be sent to the American Arbitration Association, according to the contract.
However, police terminations are notoriously difficult to uphold.
The City of Hartford is currently fighting a court battle to vacate a decision by an arbitrator with the American Arbitration Association to reinstate officer Robert Lanza, who used racial slurs during his arrest for drunk driving in 2018.
The union argued that Lanza had Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from his involvement in a prior shooting and that he was a decorated officer with a clean disciplinary history.
In her decision, arbitrator Elizabeth Neumeier said the City of Hartford was not able to establish just cause for the termination.
Several police officers over the years in different municipalities have had their terminations appealed and overturned although Hartford was able to uphold the termination of Kamil Stachowicz in 2015.
Grievance arbitration can be lengthy and expensive for municipalities and sometimes arbiters award the grievant with back-pay.
Word of the grievance filing comes as the Hartford City Council voted to create a new police accountability panel to study and make reform recommendations for the capital city’s police force, although the panel will reportedly have little authority over changing police procedures.
The city has come under increasing pressure from city residents to address issues in the police department.
Yesterday a crowd gathered outside Hartford City Hall and took a knee to protest police brutality. There have been numerous marches in Hartford and other towns and cities in Connecticut following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
That same night, the Hartford City Council voted to decrease the police department’s budget by 4 percent and reallocate the $2 million to other departments, including the Department of Public Works and the Department of Children, Families, Youth and Recreation.
The City of Hartford did not offer any comment on Barone’s grievance filing.
Concerned Citizen
June 11, 2020 @ 4:57 pm
This saddens me to hear that our law enforcement officers are talk like this in this manner in a timeframe of what’s going on. Especially in the City Of Hartford when it comes time for us working with the public with me also being a city employee who have to deal with the public we must be able to conduct ourselves at a professional manner all the time even when it comes to being disrespected Or talk back to Someone who holds a badge and supposed to uphold the law shouldn’t make comments like this
Dr. Cunningham
June 18, 2020 @ 5:30 pm
He was a racist, joke and a SOB. He should have Never been an officer. This poor city to have to deal with these so called Police. They are brutal, ignorant jokes.
kay Aye
June 11, 2020 @ 5:20 pm
According to original articles, the officer who was terminated in 2015 was : Kamil Stachowicz (not Emil)
Val
June 12, 2020 @ 7:20 am
If police presence in Hartford is reduced I will not dine at any restaurant or even visit downtown Hartford
Kathie
June 18, 2020 @ 5:26 pm
Fine Val don’t.Stay at Home.
Thad Stewart
June 15, 2020 @ 4:41 pm
Where I come from these cushy gubment jobs are called lottery jobs. You hit the lottery and now you are on easy street, nothing to worry about. Can’t get fired, guaranteed paycheck, and a pension. Show me somewhere in the real world, where this kind of neighborhood of make believe exists? When the unions are running the state, and not the elected officials there is a problem. The state is in financial ruin, because the useless unions have more employees than the private sector. How can the private sector be expected to pay for things that cost two to three times what they cost in the real business world. Never done on time and millions of dollars over budget. Latest catastrophe, the Yard Goats Park in Hartford. Was it done on time? Was it on budget? Did the planners and top of the food chain laugh all the way to the bank, you better believe they did. Connecticut has a long history of massive money failures just like this, yet the money people always end up giggling at the zero’s they just added to their bottom line. When do the taxpayers say ENOUGH! When are the gravy train engineers held accountable, and when are the politicians caught red handed with the kick backs? Sooner then later this funny money game has to stop, and some people need to be held accountable for screwing the middle class taxpayer coming and going.