Fired Parkland deputy to be reinstated with back pay: union

A police sergeant in Florida who lost his job after it was discovered that he had hid outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland in February 2018 as a gunman opened fire on students and staff has since been reinstated, The Miami Herald reports.   

According to the newspaper, the Broward Sheriff’s Office Deputies Association confirmed the news in a release on Wednesday. The Hill has reached out to the union for comment. 

Back in June 2019, Broward County Sheriff Gregory Tony said the deputy, Sgt. Brian Miller, had been fired along with three others for their “neglect of duty” in the Feb. 14, 2018, massacre.

“It became clear to me and our command staff that this was neglect of duty,” Tony said at the time in remarks recorded by The New York Times. “And it was one of the most severe consequences, as we lost 17 people.”

According to the Herald, Miller had challenged his termination shortly after, and on Wednesday, the union reportedly said an arbitration ruling determined that the sheriff’s office “violated Sgt. Brian Miller’s constitutional due process rights and improperly terminated him.”

As a result, the paper reports that Miller, who reportedly earned north of $138,000 in 2017, will be able to receive back pay and be reinstated. 

However, Tony has since made clear that the recent ruling makes no difference as to where he stands on Miller’s actions. 

“I stood by the termination then and I stand by it now,” Tony said in an interview with Local 10 News on Thursday.

“You know, the arbitration process is always part of the final aspect of reemploying an employee who was terminated or suffers from some type of disciplinary action that I take, and I understand that that’s always going to be on the table, but that’s not going to change my decision-making in terms of doing what is right for this community,” he also said.

Just caught up with @BSO Sheriff Gregory Tony .. asked him his reaction to the arbitration award reinstating Sgt. Brian Miller, one of 4 deputies Tony fired last year for “neglect of duty” at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas massacre …⏩@WPLGLocal10 pic.twitter.com/HpSKsF9nzW

— Glenna Milberg (@GlennaWPLG) May 14, 2020

A parent of one of the students killed in the 2018 shooting also reacted to the news in a tweet.

“If Sergeant Miller has any honor, he will resign,” Ryan Petty wrote. “He owes it to law enforcement officers who risk their lives each and every day.”