Ft. Lauderdale Police Chief Speaks At Arbitration Hearing For Fired Cop
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FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – Sitting six feet from an officer he fired a year ago, Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Frank Adderley called a racism scandal the worst thing he had ever seen.
"It was a black eye on the City of Fort Lauderdale," Adderley said.
Adderley was called to testify at an arbitration hearing for former police officer James Wells.
Wells is trying to get his job back and has hired a private attorney to fight his case.
Wells and two other officers were fired in March 2015 after they were linked to sending text messages that investigators say were laced with slurs against African Americans, Hispanics and even coworkers.
Adderley said the messages damaged the trust with the community and the words made it impossible to prosecute some suspects.
"How can you hate them and then be fair?" he explained.
The messages made their way to the Broward State Attorney's Office.
Broward prosecutor Tim Donnelly told the arbitrator that his office had to drop 18 cases where Wells was the arresting officer.
Wells maintains he isn't a racist and the text messages were private conversations made in jest with friends on the force.
His lawyer said Wells has a right to freedom of speech and the comments are misconstrued.
The hearing continues Friday. The arbitrator isn't expected to issue a ruling until the spring.
