City aldermen voted late Tuesday night to send up to $200,000 to the Manchester Police Department to cover back pay for fired police officer Aaron Brown, multiple sources with knowledge of the vote confirmed.
Brown, a 13-year veteran, was fired in April 2018 but ordered returned to his job in late December by an arbitrator who determined that racist comments he sent to his wife on a department-issued cellphone were not enough to justify his firing.
In a binding decision, the arbitrator awarded Brown all back wages except for 30 days, which represented a suspension.
On Wednesday, police issued a statement saying while the department fought “long and hard” to prevent Brown’s reinstatement, the city has “no further legal recourse” to fight the arbitrator’s binding decision awarding back pay to Brown.
“I am proud to lead the Manchester Police Department and to serve the people of this city,” said Manchester Police Chief Allen Aldenberg in a statement. “Our department vehemently condemns Mr. Brown’s misconduct, and we move forward with the expectation that all members of this department will meet the highest professional and ethical standards.”
A city-hired lawyer in the case has called Brown, who joked in texts to his wife about shooting Blacks, a “proven racist” in filings with a state labor board.
The vote was 12-1 in favor of sending the funds, with only Alderman Joe Kelly Levasseur opposed. Alderman Normand Gamache was absent for the vote, while Keith Hirschmann was unable to vote after his iPad battery died while board members were in non-public session, sources said.
The vote occurred late Tuesday, after board members recessed the public meeting to enter a non-public session “for consultation with legal counsel” according to a posted agenda. The board then returned to public session to cast the vote.
A source said as part of those discussions, city officials were told Brown would not be returning to work in Manchester if payment of back pay was approved.
Files released in response to Right-to-Know requests by the New Hampshire Union Leader and the ACLU-New Hampshire for information about Brown’s termination show that under the arbitrator’s award, Brown was continuing to accumulate pay of $1,540 for every week the city refused to rehire him.
His back pay and benefits amount to about $139,600 in late October, based on amounts outlined in the document.
Former Manchester police chief Carlo Capano refused to implement the reinstatement order, and the Manchester Police Patrolman’s Association took the now-retired Capano to the state Public Employee Labor Relations Board, calling the former chief’s action an unfair labor practice.
At the center of the case were texts Brown sent to his wife.
“Besides, I got this new fancy gun. Take out parking tickets no problem. FYI ‘parking tickets’ = black fella,” Brown texted his wife in 2017, in response to her worrying about him working on an FBI case in Boston.
“Those texts were literally made in jest, call it bravado, call it what you want,” Brown’s attorney, Mark Morrissette, told the Union Leader in September.
Morrissette said Brown picked up the term “parking tickets” from his supervisor and co-workers.
Two months later, he sent his wife video of a “crackbunny fight” and wrote: “I am certainly not a racist. I have my proclivities about people ... but those folks are straight up n’s ... no two ways about it. Serve no place in life or society. And yet they are completely taking over all parts of daily life.”
Two former police chiefs — Nick Willard and Capano — and Mayor Joyce Craig have previously said Brown has no business being a police officer.
November 12, 2020 at 05:38AM
https://www.unionleader.com/news/safety/vote-to-send-up-to-200k-to-manchester-pd-related-to-proven-racist-cop-case/article_737685d3-3e38-500b-8769-5c214a2fdbf0.html
Vote to send up to $200K to Manchester PD related to 'proven racist' cop case - The Union Leader
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