In a ruling with broad implications for police discipline, the Minnesota Supreme Court has rejected Richfield's efforts to fire an officer who struck a Twin Cities teenager, saying the city must comply with an arbitrator who ruled in favor of the officer.
Richfield Police Officer Nate Kinsey was fired in 2016, about six months after he was caught on tape striking a young Somali man on the back of the head and swearing at him, an incident denounced by the Somali Human Rights Commission. Kinsey failed to report the use of force, as the police department required.
The Supreme Court decision, released Wednesday morning, was a closely watched test of the authority of labor arbitrators, who are held under Minnesota law to be the final judges of law and fact in disputes covered by many collective bargaining agreements.
Sean Gormley, executive director of Law Enforcement Labor Services Inc., the state's largest law enforcement union and the one representing Kinsey, praised the ruling.
"Binding arbitration is a pillar of collective bargaining; it is imperative that employers and unions respect and abide by these decisions, even when the outcome is unfavorable to one side or the other," Gormley said in a statement.
Kinsey, 43, of Cottage Grove, did not return a call seeking comment; a union spokesman said he intends to return to work as a police officer.
In her 10-page decision, Justice Anne K. McKeig rejected the argument that Richfield's "public policy" interests in police discipline allowed it to override the arbitrator, who found that Kinsey's use of force was not excessive.
"No doubt many observers would find Kinsey's actions disturbing," McKeig wrote. "But state statute requires arbitration, and the City's contract with the Union gives the arbitrator the authority to decide what constitutes just cause for termination. Applying the statute and the language in the contract, and deferring to the facts as found by the arbitrator, we reverse the decision of the court of appeals."
