A Duluth police officer who dragged a handcuffed man through the city's skywalk is back on the job.
Duluth police officer who dragged handcuffed man through skywalk is back at work
Union fought for reinstatement before arbitrator, courts.
January 11, 2020 at 11:16PM
Officer Adam Huot returned to work at the Duluth Police Department on Monday, assigned to desk-job duties, police spokeswoman Ingrid Hornibrook said.
In 2017, Huot handcuffed a man who had refused to leave the city's skywalk system. The man fell to the ground and refused to walk.
Body camera footage showed that Huot then grabbed the chain connecting the cuffs and dragged the man about 100 feet. The man's head struck a metal doorway.
Huot violated Police Department policy by not reporting his use of force. He was later dismissed for the violation, and for using unreasonable force.
The Duluth Police Union, which Huot belongs to, challenged his firing. A labor arbitrator — who has binding power to settle the dispute under the collective bargaining agreement between the city and the union — ruled that Huot's conduct warranted discipline but not dismissal. He was reinstated following a 13-month suspension.
The city challenged that decision in district court and the state Court of Appeals. Judges in both cases sided with the police union.
Duluth then asked the Minnesota Supreme Court to weigh in, but the court declined to review the case, according to media reports.
In a statement last week, police union president Ryan Morris said the union still acknowledges that Huot's actions "were inappropriate and reflected poorly on all police officers." But the union stands by its stance that the officer should not have been fired.
"The union's belief has now been affirmed in two separate rulings," Morris said.
Ryan Faircloth • 612-673-4234 Twitter: @ryanfaircloth
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