By Bob Audette
Brattleboro Reformer
BRATTLEBORO, Vt. — While several of the claims filed by former Brattleboro Police officer Terrance Parker against the town were dismissed on Tuesday, a Windham County District Court judge allowed his suit to go forward on a claim that he was fired without regard of his disability.
Parker has claimed he suffers from post traumatic stress disorder and depression as a result of having to shoot and kill Robert Woodward during a confrontation at All Souls Church in December 2001.
Judge John Wesley also let stand a claim that the town inflicted emotional distress on Parker when it fired him.
But Wesley dismissed three other claims filed by Parker -- for retaliatory discharge, for breach of contract and for breach of good faith and fair dealing.
“The court held that the disability claim may go forward because it s source is federal and state law, not the collective bargaining agreement,” said Parker s attorney, Norman Watts, of Woodstock.
Wesley reserved his decision on the emotional distress claim pending further development of the summary judgment record.
“After the emotional distress claim is resolved, the case will go to jury trial, probably in June,” said Watts.
Parker was a police officer for 19 years, fired in February 2007 for “deficiencies in your reporting, failure to accurately record time worked on a timesheet, and twice leaving a firearm in an unsecured area,” according to his termination letter.
Parker claimed he was targeted by then-Police Chief John Martin and former Capt. Steve Rowell for bringing controversy down on the department after the shooting of Woodward.
Wesley dismissed a breach of contract claim because Parker elected to contest his termination at a hearing before the Selectboard and not through binding arbitration.
“There was a full and fair opportunity for (Parker) to litigate all of the issues at the hearing, and he did so, represented by counsel and testifying on his own behalf,” claimed the town.
Wesley stated that because Parker selected one of the two options in the collective bargaining agreement to appeal termination -- a hearing rather than arbitration -- “Plaintiff cannot now seek the advantages of the protective provisions of the (collective bargaining agreement)?”
The board held its hearing in June 2007, in which it found that Parker s alleged post traumatic stress disorder and depression were not “a mitigating factor in (his) poor and failing performance in his written duties.”
Wesley let the claims of discrimination based on a disability and for the intentional infliction of emotional distress stand because they “present issues that were not within the scope of the board s proper determination, and cannot be extinguished solely on account of its ruling.”
As to the claim of infliction of emotional distress, Parker claimed that he was harassed about his failure to complete paperwork, that officials attempted “to conjure up evidence or misfeasance and/or incompetence” against him, that the department had failed to support him in the aftermath of the Woodward shooting, that other officers were not reprimanded for failing to complete their paperwork, and that the department brought “other exaggerated or false charges” against him.
“To sustain a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress, a plaintiff must show that defendants engaged in outrageous conduct, done intentionally or with reckless disregard of the probability of causing emotional distress ..., " wrote Wesley.
Wesley wrote that he could have dismissed the claim based on a precedent set by the Vermont Supreme Court, in which it determined “incidents that are in themselves insignificant should not be consolidated to arrive at the conclusion that the overall conduct was outrageous.”
But here the town is asking for summary judgment based on the fact this issue had already been litigated during the June 2007 hearing rather than the argument “that there are not facts to support (Parker s) claim even if it was not precluded by the CBA proceedings,” wrote Wesley.
However, the judge delayed his decision on the claim because he believes “the matter is potentially ripe for summary judgment” pending possible filings by the town.
Parker and former Brattleboro Police Officer Marshall Holbrook shot an emotionally disturbed Woodward on Dec. 2, 2001, after he entered All Souls Church and brandished a folding knife with a 3.5-inch blade.
Witnesses claimed Woodward only threatened to kill himself with the knife but after receiving phone calls from parishioners, the police dispatcher informed officers he was threatening people in the church.
When police arrived, they ordered Woodward to drop the knife.
Instead, the police told the Vermont Attorney General, who was investigating the shooting, Woodward advanced on them.
Parker and Holbrook shot Woodward seven times.
The AG found that though Woodward s shooting was “tragic,” it was legally justified.
Holbrook later resigned his position with the department and moved out of the area, while Parker stayed on with the police force.
In 2006, the town settled a lawsuit filed by Woodward s family, which was awarded $150,000. The family donated the money to various charities in his name.
Copyright 2010 Brattleboro Reformer