Ruling against LR officer’s demotion upheld

A Little Rock police sergeant did not deserve to lose his rank for arranging off-thebooks repairs to a squad car, the Arkansas Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday.

Instead, a three-judge panel sided with a lower court’s decision to impose a 30-day suspension without pay to the officer, Christopher Phillips.

Phillips was demoted to patrolman after officers under his supervision got into a minor accident involving two patrol cars in April 2014, damaging one car’s bumper.

Phillips tried to have the car repaired outside the department’s shop.

Under Phillips’ direction, several officers took the damaged car to a house, where they attempted repairs, according to court records.

When that didn’t work, Phillips had the officers drive the car behind the Electric Cowboy nightclub off Interstate 30, where someone Phillips knew welded the bumper back into place.

After fixing the car, Phillips had a superior examine the work but did not tell him it involved welding.

More than a week later, another officer took the car out and reported that the strobe lights were not working. That’s when the extent of the damage was discovered, Phillips’ boss testified in disciplinary proceedings.

Police Chief Kenton Buckner then demoted Phillips for breaking department rules, including attempting self-repair of a patrol car and conduct unbecoming of an officer.

Two other officers received one-day suspensions for their involvement, and two others got lesser punishments.

Phillips appealed his case

to the city’s Civil Service Commission, which sided with Buckner.

Then the officer appealed to the Pulaski County Circuit Court, where Judge Morgan Welch agreed to impose a suspension rather than demoting Phillips.

Appeals court Judge Mark Klappenbach wrote an opinion finding no fault with Welch’s decision and affirmed the ruling Wednesday.

Phillips did not dispute

that he broke department rules. Instead, he argued that he had much more to lose — citing salary losses of $150,000 — if he was demoted for bad judgment.

But the city argued that Phillips’ actions caused him to lose credibility among his subordinates and that he should have to earn back his fellow officers’ and supervisors’ trust.

The city did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Robert Newcomb, Phillips’ attorney, said Wednesday that his client has continued to work for the department

at the rank of sergeant since Welch’s decision.

Newcomb, who often represents police and firefighters as well as their unions, praised the court’s decision. He added that Phillips can expect back pay for the time he spent demoted to patrolman, which Newcomb said was about a year.