A Bristol, Tennessee police officer has been fired after giving a ticket (to a senator’s daughter) and honest, logical feedback on camera about a questionable department policy on window tinting and Sen. Jon Lundberg (R), District 4.
The senator says he feels bad for calling the police chief and getting officer Phil Kiersnowski fired after he pulled over his daughter, reported WJHL.
“I’m not responsible, but I’m involved and I feel badly,” Lundberg said. “I feel really badly.”
The officer gave Sam Lundberg a ticket for a window tint violation, and during the traffic stop he mentioned that many officers do not support the department’s window tinting policy and suggested Lundberg have her father get involved to try to change the policy.
“I am going to give you a citation, because that’s only because the admin’s on our a**,” Kiersnowski said while apparently trying to mute his microphone during the traffic stop. “One phone call from your dad will probably save us a lot of heartache.”
“We all said if we find you driving we’re going to write you a ticket,” he said. “We all know your window tint is too dark.”
“You all targeting me?” Lundberg asked.
“No,”said the officer as he again suggested that her father could easily change the policy.
“One call from your dad would probably make all of this go away and probably save all of us a lot of heartache,” he said.
Sen. Lundberg said the officer didn’t realize it at the time, but he was actually listening to the traffic stop on speakerphone. However, he says he could not hear anything Kiersnowski said while he was whispering.
The senator said he didn’t call Wade to try and get his daughter out of the ticket.
“Absolutely not,” Sen. Lundberg said. “No way”
When the senator visited the police office the next day, he found out the officer had been fired.
“He was at his desk and literally he said, ‘There’s the officer’s badge on my desk, he has been relieved of duty and he’ll be fired within 24 hours,’” Sen. Lundberg recalled. “My reaction is, ‘Fired for what?’”
A department memo cited two major issues for the termination.
“After reviewing the video, it is apparent that Officer Kiersnowski attempted to disable his audio which could be evidence and is also part of the official records of the police department,” the chief said in the memo. “Officer Kiersnowski was insubordinate with his attempt to persuade someone to take action to change police department policy that he does not agree with.”
Sen. Lundberg feels bad for the result of his actions and has even hired Kiersnowski an attorney in an effort to try and help the officer get his job back.
Kiersnowski, with the support of Sen. Lundberg’s hired attorney, said he appealed his termination at a hearing last week, but the city ultimately upheld the decision.
Source: http://truthfight.com/tennessee-cop-fired-pulling-sen-jon-lundbergs-daughter/