Former Officer Claims Wrongful Termination
A former South Pasadena police officer who pleaded no contest to a hit-and-run accident that shook the department filed a claim against the city Thursday, alleging that he was wrongfully terminated.
Scott Ziegler’s claim alleges that an arbitrator ruled that the city dismissed him in November 1996 without cause and that he was owed lost wages. City Manager Sean Joyce rejected that recommendation.
The claim, a precursor to a lawsuit, does not state the damages Ziegler seeks. In a statement, the city denied any wrongdoing.
Ziegler was terminated after The Times reported allegations that his fellow officers covered up the crash. Ziegler’s name was left off a police report on the case, and prosecutors were not told of his conduct until The Times’ stories appeared. They then charged Ziegler, whose father-in-law was once mayor of South Pasadena.
In the wake of the Ziegler incident, then-Police Chief Thomas Mahoney resigned, the FBI opened an investigation and the owner of the car Ziegler damaged won a $35,000 settlement from the city after she filed a civil rights lawsuit.
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