Judge Denies Dennis White's Lawsuit To Stop Mayor Kim Janey From Firing Him As Boston Police Commissioner
BOSTON (CBS) -- A judge has denied suspended Boston Police Commissioner Dennis White's request for an injunction to prevent Acting Mayor Kim Janey from firing him.
Suffolk Superior Court Judge Heidi Brieger issued her ruling Tuesday afternoon, saying that White is not entitled to a full hearing to clear his name with witnesses and cross-examination, as his lawyer claimed. Brieger also found that White's removal would not cause "irreparable harm."
White was taken off the job in February, two days after he was sworn in by former Mayor Marty Walsh, after a decades-old allegations of a domestic abuse came up. An independent investigator was hired to look into the case. Janey released that report and said it was clear to her that Boston needed a new police commissioner.
White, a 32-year veteran of the department, filed a lawsuit to stop Janey from firing him.
"I applaud Judge Brieger's ruling to deny this motion and will inform Dennis White of his rescheduled Zoom hearing. It is time to move our City and the Boston Police Department forward," Janey said in a statement Tuesday afternoon.
In an affidavit filed in Suffolk Superior Court, former Police Commissioner William Gross testified that Walsh had known about the accusations against White since 2014. Walsh resigned as mayor in March to become the U.S. Secretary of Labor.
Walsh has denied he ever knew about White's alleged domestic abuse or the internal affairs files on the investigation.
Sources told WBZ-TV's I-Team that Superintendent Nora Baston will be named the next Boston Police Commissioner, but that has been on hold since White filed his lawsuit.
White will still get a hearing where he can contest his firing, but it's not clear yet when that will be held.
"Commissioner White also believes that hearing must be robust to protect his constitutional liberty interest," White's attorney Nick Carter said in a statement following the ruling. "That liberty interest protects a person who works for the government from adverse employment action that causes them significant reputational harm."