Appeals Court Nullifies $175,000 Award to Fired Signal Hill Officer

A federal appeals court on Wednesday reversed a $175,000 award to a former Signal Hill police officer who was fired because he had sex with his teen-age girlfriend before he joined the department.

Gerry Fleisher, 26, was one of four Signal Hill officers who were fired in 1983 after the girl, a former Explorer Scout, claimed that she was sexually involved with the officers.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Fleisher’s privacy rights were not violated when his probationary employment was terminated, allegedly because of the sexual liaison and other purported instances of misconduct.

Admits Relationship

Fleisher admitted that he had slept with the girl, then 15, when he was an 18-year-old Explorer Scout lieutenant. But he did not disclose the girl’s identity at the time and claimed that they had broken off their relationship before he joined the police force.

In terminating his probationary employment, the Police Department also cited reprimands Fleisher had received for accidentally discharging his weapon at the police station, failing to notify a police dispatcher that he was responding to a traffic incident with lights and siren, and an incident in which Fleisher fired shots into a vehicle driven by an auto theft suspect.

In his lawsuit, Fleisher had claimed that the firing violated his constitutional rights to privacy and freedom of association, and said his firing was based not on the fact that he had slept with a teen-ager, but because the department learned that the girl was an Explorer Scout.

A federal court jury agreed and awarded him $175,000.

‘Substantial Barrier’

But Judge Harry Pregerson, writing for the three-member appeals panel, said Fleisher’s admitted illegal behavior in having sex with a minor “creates a substantial barrier” to claiming that his privacy was violated.

“We are unable to find that the right of privacy extends to sexual conduct that is concededly illegal, that implicates a police officer candidate’s ability to perform effectively as an officer, and that adversely affects a police department’s morale and community reputation,” the ruling said.

Moreover, because Fleisher had admitted his liaison with the young woman, he was not entitled to a Civil Service hearing to rebut the charge, the court held.

Attorney Stephen Yagman, representing Fleisher, called the court’s ruling “a theoretically reasonable decision which does not make sense when applied to the facts of this case, because society doesn’t treat sexual activity between an 18-year-old and a 16-year-old girlfriend as wrongful sexual activity.”

Officials Aware

Moreover, department officials knew that Fleisher had had sex with a teen-ager before they hired him, Yagman said.

But David M. Axelrad, representing the city, said it was important for the city to learn that the liaison had occurred with a girl enrolled in a department-sponsored program to promote the involvement of young people in law enforcement careers.

Fleisher was one of the officers on duty the night in June, 1981, when Ron Settles, a former California State University, Long Beach, football player, died in the Signal Hill Jail. Fleisher admitted ignoring Settles’ repeated pleas to make a telephone call, but the Settles matter was not a factor in the decision to fire him, Axelrad said.