Miami can fire cop, state appeals court rules
Adrian Rodriguez — a Miami cop who has spent the past six years thwarting police department attempts to fire him after he was implicated in a murder — lost a major legal battle Wednesday when a state appeals court ruled the department had the power to toss him off the force for refusing to submit to a drug test.
Implicated in the shooting death of a former U.S. Marine during a robbery at a cellphone store where he worked almost a decade ago, Rodriguez had successfully fought off a string of arbitration and court proceedings since his initial firing in 2016 when he clammed up after detectives tried to interview him.
On Wednesday, the Third District Court of Appeal ruled that a lower court was correct when it determined the city had the right to fire Rodriguez last August after he refused to submit to a urinalysis. Rodriguez had asked that the city of Miami be found in contempt for violating his arbitration agreement which reinstated him after his initial firing. The city of Miami argued it couldn’t reinstate the officer without a drug test because his training requirements had lapsed in 2017 after he had been separated from the department for more than six months.
Simply, after six years of being unable to fire the officer for his alleged involvement in a murder, Miami was finally told it had the right to remove Rodriguez because he refused to pee into a cup.
“The judge made the right decision,” said Miami Deputy Police Chief Ron Papier. “He was a city of Miami police officer who refused to cooperate on a homicide investigation.”
Rodriguez’s attorney, Eugene Gibbons, said his client’s fight for reinstatement wasn’t over “by a long shot.” The attorney said Rodriguez will first re-petition the court in hopes it gives the contempt claim against the city a second look. And if that fails, they intend to once again go to arbitration over the officer’s firing.
“He’s entitled to a hearing and review on that,” said Gibbons. “I’m extremely disappointed in the court’s ruling.”
Rodriguez was an employee at an Allapattah MetroPCS store in 2007 when store manager Yosbel Millares, a former U.S. Marine who was about to become a father, was shot to death. He was killed in the parking lot of the store while he was on his way to deposit money. Rodriguez was interviewed the day of the shooting but was not suspected of being involved.
Rodriguez became a city of Miami police officer a year later. By 2010, he was implicated in the murder when detectives learned from Kissimmee police that Rodriguez’s brother had confided to a friend in jail details about the crime that were unknown to the public.