Post by WaTcHeR on Dec 28, 2006 19:16:01 GMT -5
A former Austin police officer filed a lawsuit against the department Tuesday, claiming that he was forced to resign because he is a fundamentalist Christian and refused to use a Taser stun gun against an elderly man.
Ramon Perez, 44, said Tuesday at a press conference that he never talked about his faith at work and didn't know his job was in jeopardy until a sergeant told him he might be terminated. Perez said this was several days after he met with a police staff psychologist in March 2005.
An evaluation by the psychologist concluded that Perez was unfit for duty because of his religious beliefs, said Perez's lawyer, Derek Howard.
A city attorney denied the allegations Tuesday.
The city doesn't discriminate against employees because of their religion, said Anne Morgan, the city's chief of litigation. Perez was terminated because of his performance, she said.
"The allegations will be hotly contested," she said.
The report by staff psychologist Carol Logan, which is included in the lawsuit, said that Perez "takes pride in the fact that he is an ordained minister," was writing a book based on his beliefs and homeschooled his children.
"As admirable as these beliefs may be, they seem to play a role in his defensiveness in that they provide him with a rationale for explaining how his views differ with others and at times he seems to imply that he may have moral superiority over others," the report said.
Perez ignores feedback from supervisors, the report said, adding that this behavior might tend to isolate him from people "with whom he needs to form a smooth working relationship that is crucial when his co-workers are depending upon him for backup in dangerous situations."
Perez said Tuesday that he never had any problems listening to people at the Austin Police Department.
Perez, a former engineer who is married with four children, said he decided to join the police department after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/12/20/20lawsuit.html?COXnetJSessionIDbuild176=FJux2CSVY0TeuGDrC66h71SpN1p8v1JFT7iUVamMOSJ33hWd2IaQ!-1780492967&UrAuth=aNcNUOaNTUbTTUWUXUWUZTZU^UWU^UVUZUaU_UcTYWVVZV&urcm=y
Ramon Perez, 44, said Tuesday at a press conference that he never talked about his faith at work and didn't know his job was in jeopardy until a sergeant told him he might be terminated. Perez said this was several days after he met with a police staff psychologist in March 2005.
An evaluation by the psychologist concluded that Perez was unfit for duty because of his religious beliefs, said Perez's lawyer, Derek Howard.
A city attorney denied the allegations Tuesday.
The city doesn't discriminate against employees because of their religion, said Anne Morgan, the city's chief of litigation. Perez was terminated because of his performance, she said.
"The allegations will be hotly contested," she said.
The report by staff psychologist Carol Logan, which is included in the lawsuit, said that Perez "takes pride in the fact that he is an ordained minister," was writing a book based on his beliefs and homeschooled his children.
"As admirable as these beliefs may be, they seem to play a role in his defensiveness in that they provide him with a rationale for explaining how his views differ with others and at times he seems to imply that he may have moral superiority over others," the report said.
Perez ignores feedback from supervisors, the report said, adding that this behavior might tend to isolate him from people "with whom he needs to form a smooth working relationship that is crucial when his co-workers are depending upon him for backup in dangerous situations."
Perez said Tuesday that he never had any problems listening to people at the Austin Police Department.
Perez, a former engineer who is married with four children, said he decided to join the police department after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/12/20/20lawsuit.html?COXnetJSessionIDbuild176=FJux2CSVY0TeuGDrC66h71SpN1p8v1JFT7iUVamMOSJ33hWd2IaQ!-1780492967&UrAuth=aNcNUOaNTUbTTUWUXUWUZTZU^UWU^UVUZUaU_UcTYWVVZV&urcm=y