SAN JOSE (KRON) — The case of a San Jose police officer who got his badge back after being fired over some provocative tweets may be headed to court.
And community activists are not the only ones critical of an arbitrator’s decision to reinstate Ofc. Phil White.
Admitting it’s a long shot at best, San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo said the focus of a superior court challenge will be to find out if the arbitrator overstepped his authority in reinstating Ofc. White.
“It’s clear that the deck is stacked against any city that is going to challenge the decision of an arbitrator,” Liccardo said.
White was fired last October after he wrote on Twitter, “Threaten me or my family and I will use my God given and law appointed right and duty to kill you. #CopsLivesMatter.”
And he also tweeted, “By the way if anyone feels they can’t breathe or their lives matter I’ll be at the movies tonight, off duty, carrying my gun.’
The mayor said the tweets and White’s reinstatement reflect poorly on the police department.
“It does not help our department to have an officer who has clearly been engaged in this kind of communication, coming back into the force and having people believe whatever they might believe about what that says about the rest of our department,” Liccardo said. “I know our officers are better than that.”
