Marco Island police officer placed on paid leave pending investigation
Devan PatelThe city of Marco Island has placed officer John Derrig on paid leave after it opened an internal affair investigation Monday.
Capt. Dave Baer made the announcement via a news release Monday evening. He offered few details as to what triggered the investigation.
"The subject matter, reason(s) and action(s) taken by the agency associated with this investigation is, by law and procedure, confidential and exempt from public records laws, until the case is closed," Baer wrote. "The Department is actively investigating and will release more detailed information as soon as legally possible."
Previous coverage:
- Inquiry launched into claims that acting Marco chief put malicious docs in employee files
- Fired police officers regain their jobs in Florida with help of arbitration
- Criminal trial of man who accused Marco police of using excessive force delayed
Derrig has twice been terminated from the department only to have been rehired through the arbitration process.
In the most recent incident, which resulted in Derrig being reinstated with back pay, an arbitrator determined that the police administration had a vendetta against him when it fired him after an alleged excessive use of force situation.
“It was unfortunate that the Police Department Administration had a certain animus toward Officer Derrig,” arbitrator Frank Squillace wrote. “Thus, the Union’s claim that Officer Derrig was retaliated against is meritorious. The written documents and witnesses’ testimonies show that after Office Derrig returned to work in January 2012, he was treated in an arbitrary and capricious manner.”
More:Two Marco cops who gave 'free pass' to woman who had sex with officers have yet to face discipline
More recently, Derrig had attempted to have adverse documents removed from his personnel file without much effect.
He also previously requested the city investigate the conduct of Baer, who was accused by multiple officers of placing negative, unofficial documents in officers' personnel files.
"Over my 13 years of my employment, there (were) several uninvestigated and or slanderous documents placed into my personnel file," Derrig wrote in an email to human resources manager Leslie Sanford. "These documents were never investigated per Florida Statutes, or the dispositions were never included because there was no merit to the complaint. These documents were placed inside my file to support the malicious agenda of the prior administration. These documents are insufficient on its face and should be removed."
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