After nearly 12 hours of testimony on July 26 for BRPD’s John Dauthier, the Municipal Fire & Police Civil Service Board voted 4-1 to reverse Dauthier’s demotion.
Dauthier was suspended for 60 days (unpaid) and demoted from the rank of sergeant to corporal after the current BRPD administration sustained six policy violations.
Those violations have been the subject of an investigation by Unfiltered with Kiran.
On Monday, July 26, Dauthier and his lawyer, Cliff Ivey, went before the five person board to put on their case as to why BRPD’s discipline should be reversed.
Numerous retired BRPD officers spoke up on Dauthier’s defense with one even saying this was a textbook example of how things should be done, he should have been given a commendation letter for how he handled the case and it used to be used in future trainings.
Deputy Chief Myron Daniels testified that Dauthier “put on a show” when he knew his body camera was on and all the training he provided his corporal and the officer in training, was all wrong. Daniels further testified that since Dauthier’s Feb. 2021 incident, they have been in conversations with District Attorney Hillar Moore to improve that training and that the officers have been told via their chain of command of how to properly handle the situation at hand. However, the corporal who works below Dauthier, testified that since the incident, she has not been provided any additional training or told her training was incorrect. She has been an officer with BRPD for 12 years.
In the end, the Civil Service Board members felt Dauthier left the woman who was at her home in handcuffs too long. They said as soon as he realized officers were at the wrong home, the woman should have been let out of her handcuffs. That’s why the board suggested anywhere between one day and 60 days of suspension, but all agreed his demotion needed to be reversed. All said his supervision of the scene, especially how he de-escalated it, accepted responsibility and apologized repeatedly, prove he deserves to be a supervisor.
In the end, the motion the board voted on was to suspend him for the amount of time he has already served on suspension, which is 39 days, and reverse the demotion in rank.
“Tonight was a win for us. It may not be exactly what we wanted, which was to completely reverse the 60-day suspension and the demotion, but this is still a win. Of course, we plan to appeal this in district court. Anytime you get a majority rule against this administration from this Civil Service Board, it tells you how weak of a case the administration presented,” said Ivey.
Ivey said they will be appealing the decision before the 19th Judicial District Court.
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