St. Louis County officer reinstated after 2013 termination

CLAYTON, Mo. -- The St. Louis County police board has voted to reinstate a lieutenant at the center of racial profiling allegations three years ago and demote him to patrolman.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported the board voted 4-0 to reinstate Lt. Patrick "Rick" Hayes in a closed session Monday.

Former chief Tim Fitch fired Hayes in 2013 after an internal affairs investigation concluded Hayes had ordered officers to target black people in and around south St. Louis County shopping centers.

One member, Laurie Westfall, voted against demoting Hayes to patrolman. The votes of approval to take both actions came from chairman Roland Corvington and members T.R. Carr and Lawrence Wooten. Carr and Westfall are white, and Corvington and Wooten are black.

The decision contradicts a recommendation by Michael Flynn, a hearing officer who presided over an 11-day police board trial on Hayes' appeal last year. Flynn said Hayes should be reinstated as a lieutenant.

The 84-page opinion describes a chaotic platoon, with a secret hideout for lengthy on-duty breaks, county attorneys pressuring officers to testify against Hayes and a potentially unethical deal with a former police board member.

Hayes has long said he was targeted by unsatisfied people after he was sent to restore lost discipline at the Affton Precinct.

Flynn's report wasn't available to the public until attorney Neil Bruntrager filed a lawsuit against the county on behalf of Hayes. The court appeal of the board's decision seeks three years of lost pay and benefits totaling more than $300,000. It also seeks to keep his suspension in effect in order to protect his pension.

Flynn's report accuses the internal affairs division of not completing their work and discounts subordinates' claims Hayes made racially inappropriate comments, referring to the officers as a "disorganized group of cub scouts" led by the "Pied Piper of sergeants." The latter reference was to Sgt. Dan O'Neil.

"They followed their roles and played their parts reciting for the Bureau of Professional Standards, what had been scripted for them by Sgt. O'Neil, the master playwright for this drama," Flynn wrote.

The allegations surfaced in December 2013 through anonymous letters signed by "The Lonewolf," which the department determined to be O'Neil.

O'Neil has said the department retaliated against him for being a whistleblower. O'Neil's attorney, Jerome Dobson said Tuesday he was "greatly perplexed" by the board's vote but had not yet read Flynn's recommendation.

Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com