ARBITRATOR RESCINDS TERMINATION AND ORDERS FULL BACK PAY

The incident began in 2007, the night before Easter, as the Officer and his wife were home at night, getting ready for their young child’s Easter morning.  The officer was awoken by a phone call from neighbors who informed him that there were three prowlers deep in his yard.  The officer eventually confronted the young men on the street and ordered them to the ground until on-duty officers arrived.  The young men claimed that Rawlston had assaulted them with the butt end of his pistol prior to the arrival of the on-duty officers.  Rawlston, as well as several witnesses, testified that Rawlston never assaulted anyone, and that he acted exactly as a police officer should in that situation.  After a hearing before the City manager, Rawlston was terminated for an alleged violation of Worcester PD rules including criminal assault and battery. It was at that point that Nolan Perroni Harrington assumed representation in the case.

NEPBA Local 911, which represents Worcester’s Police Patrolmen, appealed the termination to an impartial arbitrator.  Following five days of hearings, the arbitrator determined that there was no just cause for the termination.  Rawlston was ordered reinstated to his position with full back pay and benefits.  Particularly significant in the decision was attorneys Nolan and Perroni’s extensive cross-examination of the three alleged victims.  The lawyers established that none of their stories were consistent, nor did any of their accounts match the City’s allegations in the case.  Following the cross-examinations, the arbitrator ruled that the City’s principal witnesses had committed perjury regarding key points in their testimony.   As the arbitrator stated

“[i]t would be a futile exercise to try to pick out some portion of those three boys’ testimonies concerning that interaction which could possibly be believed in light of their self-destroyed credibility.”

The case demonstrates, once again, that truth emerges most often from the crucible of cross-examination.  Also significant in the case was the extremely thorough and professional investigation done by some of Worcester’s finest detectives, which investigation found itself at odds with the report authored by the City’s Internal Affairs unit.

The arbitrator was not alone in his conlcusion that the officer acted properly.  The evidence in the case suggested that the three individuals were caught breaking into cars in Rawlston's neighborhood.  They were seen deep in Rawlston's yard, near his cars and close to his home at night.  An exhaustive police investigation presented strong proof that officer acted appropriately.  Area residents who witnessed the events testified that Rawlston acted exactly as they would want a police officer to act under the circumstances.  The District Attorney saw no reason to bring a case against Rawlston, and, finally, an independent arbitrator, mutually agreed upon by both sides, determined that the three individuals lied under oath, and eventually cleared the officer of any wrongdoing.

For a full understanding of the case, please take the time to read the decision of the arbitrator.  Given the extensive amount of testimony and material in the case, the decision reads like a short novel – 90 pages, single spaced.  It is one of the most thorough and comprehensive decisions in a discipline case we have seen, and you really need to read it in its entirety to get the whole picture.  Again, congratulations to the Rawlston family, and to the both the NEPBA and Local 911 for putting forth the resources required for this significant victory.

To read the 90-page decision, click on the following link:

http://nepba.org/sites/nepba.prometheuslabor.com/files/Worcester%20Arbitration%20Award.Rawlston.2009.pdf