Fired Pittsburgh police can get jobs back, six-figure back pay checks

One former Pittsburgh police officer who was fired following the 2021 death of Jim Rogers won’t be returning to the beat any time soon.

Three others, though, are back at work, and the city issued them six-figure back-pay allocations.

On Wednesday, Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas Judge Alan Hertzberg overturned an arbitration decision that would have put Keith Edmonds back in a city police uniform. Edmonds repeatedly shocked Rogers with his Taser, and the 54-year-old man died a short time later.

In a two-page order, Hertzberg wrote that two arbitrators “deprived the city of its due process rights by dishonestly finding that police officer Keith Edmonds did not violate a city policy, rule or regulation, when he admitted that he did and when the evidence of violations was overwhelming.” Hertzberg wrote that the arbitrators exceeded their authority, invaded the city’s right to manage, inappropriately considered Edmonds’ training and curtailed cross-examination of the fired officer.

Mayor Ed Gainey issued a statement expressing thanks that the court “will allow the City of Pittsburgh to hold city employees responsible for their actions and ensure that every resident is treated with dignity and respect.”

Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 1 President Robert Swartzwelder — one of the two arbitrators whose ruling Hertzberg reversed — shot back that the judge’s characterization of dishonesty was “professionally unethical and clearly without evidence” and called the decision a “blatant deviation from legal precedent.”

It was also a deviation from the outcomes in several other officer terminations.

PublicSource, through a request under the Right-to-Know Law, identified nearly $705,000 in city payments — starting in 2020 but mostly in the past 12 months — to officers who were fired, only to win grievances that compelled the city to make up their lost income. That figure could rise. The city and FOP are in court regarding several other cases in which big back-pay checks are possible.

Both the Edmonds decision and the back-pay allocations come as:

• Pittsburgh is firing police officers with increasing frequency.
• The city is often going to court, seeking to uphold those terminations.
• In most cases, the city is losing in arbitration.
• An 18-month-old contract is poised to change the disciplinary system.

“It’s a complex system, and at times it does cost the city dollars, but we have to weigh costs versus benefits, or costs versus negatives of an officer returning that we feel isn’t the right fit for our city,” Public Safety Director Lee Schmidt said in an interview on Tuesday, a day prior to the judge’s decision regarding Edmonds.

He added that the city wins “a few cases here and there.”

Long stretches off the job, followed by decisions overturning city decisions, take a toll on officers, according to Swartzwelder.

“It really taints the officer’s perspective on justice and due process,” he said. “And it just crushes their morale. It damages them substantially financially. … And a lot of times officers are relegated to menial labor or other jobs.”

From 2018 through 2021, the city — then led by Mayor Bill Peduto — fired 10 police officers, according to the bureau’s annual reports.

In 2022 and 2023 combined, Gainey’s administration fired 16.

That number is inflated in part by the administration’s decision to fire five of the officers involved in the response to a 911 call by a Bloomfield resident alleging a bicycle theft by Rogers, who was shocked repeatedly with a Taser and later died.

The decision to fire those officers sat well with police accountability advocates including Miracle Jones, director of advocacy and policy at 1Hood Media, and a participant in the Gainey administration search team that brought in current Police Chief Larry Scirotto.

“People’s lives are at stake every time police officers whose actions cause a death go unpunished,” Jones said. “It was the right thing to do.”

“I think the message is loud and clear, that police misconduct will not be tolerated,” added Brandi Fisher, president of the Alliance for Police Accountability.

The city’s accusations that officers violated policies in the run-up to Rogers’ death, however, did not hold up in arbitration.

Exhibit 1: Officer Patrick Desaro, age 36

Hired: 2012

Fired: March 2022

Accusation(s): Responded to the scene of Rogers’ encounter with police, helped to handcuff Rogers and transport him to the hospital, where he died.

What happened next: Desaro won reinstatement in arbitration and the city did not appeal.

Payout: $108,800 in back pay in October 2023

The process through which the city disciplines officers stems from state Act 111 of 1968, which bars strikes by police or firefighter unions, but obligates municipalities to binding arbitration if they can’t reach contract agreements.

Under that act, contract disputes are decided by three-person arbitration panels, including one member appointed by the municipality, another by the union and a third agreed upon by both sides or selected by the American Arbitration Association.

In Pittsburgh’s case, the act has resulted in contracts that include very structured disciplinary processes, with strict timelines for steps that include:

• Filing of Disciplinary Action Reports when officers are accused of violations
• Punishments ranging from oral reprimand to termination
• Meetings and decisions involving the police chief and the public safety director
• If the FOP objects to the decision, an arbitration process modeled on that included in Act 111.

Arbitrators’ decisions can be appealed to the Court of Common Pleas.

Exhibit 2: Officer Neyib Velazquez, age 37

Hired: 2016

Fired: March 2022

Accusation(s): Arrived at scene of Rogers’ encounter, had contact with him for 17 minutes, heard him ask for help but did not request medical attention.

What happened next: Velazquez won reinstatement in arbitration and the city did not appeal.

Payout: $130,572 in January 2024

Officers Patrick Desaro, Colby Neidig and Neyib Velazquez were terminated in relation to the Rogers response , but arbitrators ruled they should not have been fired. Those decisions were not appealed, and so have not emerged in court records. Under the city’s police contract, neither side can talk about cases that don’t go to court.

Fisher said the officers who transported Rogers — without apparent haste — seemed at least as culpable as the one who used the Taser.

Schmidt, though, said the administration felt that Edmonds “is more accountable for the incident than others. So we are continuing to fight that through the court system beyond arbitration.”

Exhibit 3: Officer Colby Neidig, age 50

Hired: 2005

Fired: March 2022

Accusation(s): Arrived at scene of Rogers’ encounter, talked with Rogers but did not secure medical attention.

What happened next: Neidig won reinstatement in arbitration and the city did not appeal.

Payout: $168,628 in January 2024

According to court documents, the arbitration panel hearing Edmonds’ firing consisted of Swartzwelder, Assistant City Solicitor Juan Rivera and a “neutral” selected from a rotating panel of arbitrators, named Marc Winters.

Winters and Swartzwelder found that the city’s evidence backing the termination of Edmonds was “not sufficient to show just cause” to fire. Though Edmonds “may not have followed each and every policy, rule and regulation for which he was charged by the strict letter or strictest interpretation,” Winters and Swartzwelder wrote, the officer “did not violate them either.” Officers have “discretion,” they wrote, to address situations based on the circumstances, adding that Edmonds may not have gotten adequate training.

Rivera, in a dissent, called the decision “a true abandonment of all semblance of law and jurisprudence,” terming it “cowardly” and saying it will “eviscerate the City’s managerial rights to enforce its policies.”

Rivera continued: “Edmonds repeatedly testified he violated the policies, to Jim Rogers’ peril. But, according to the panel, that’s not enough.”

The FOP in its filings countered that Rogers died due to seizure disorder for which he was prescribed two medications, neither of which he was taking. It cited medical testimony that he tested positive for cocaine and marijuana.

Rogers’ brain stopped functioning “approximately 30 minutes after the Taser deployment. Thus, Mr. Rogers did not die due to the impacts of the Taser,” the FOP argued.

Exhibit 4: Officer Keith Edmonds, age 50

Hired: 2016

Fired: March 2022

Accusation(s): Used excessive force and violated policies on search, handling prisoners and more in regard to Rogers.

What happened next: An arbitrator ruled in Edmonds’ favor, but the city appealed to the Court of Common Pleas. Judge Hertzberg reversed the arbitrators and the FOP has appealed to Commonwealth Court.

Payout: None to date

The decision upholding Edmonds’ termination was “a necessary and long-overdue step toward ensuring greater accountability within our policing systems,” according to the Alliance for Police Accountability [APA], NAACP Pittsburgh Branch and Black Political Empowerment Project [BPEP], which issued a joint statement Wednesday.

It comes as the city awaits the first test of its new police disciplinary system.

In the most recent contract between the city and the FOP, approved last year, both sides agreed , for the first time, to a disciplinary matrix. The new contract specifies “terminable offenses,” ranging from felonies to sexual misconduct to misusing the bureau computer system.

Schmidt said the administration told the union that if it wanted “ the significant raise ” the city was offering officers, it had to agree to the matrix.

Officers now know the stakes attached to given conduct, Schmidt said. "If those infractions occur, it's just termination. That helps everyone to understand better. We believe that will help with courts and arbitration as well.”

No matrix-era termination has yet gone through arbitration, he said.

Jones hopes that with the matrix in place, cases won’t be bogged down in debates over how the city handled disciplinary actions in similar, prior cases. Arbitrators can just look at the matrix, she said.

Jones, of 1Hood, said that with the matrix, “We as a community will be able to know that officers can be terminated and have that upheld going forward.”

Swartzwelder agreed that the matrix limits the arbitrator’s authority, but added that the quality of the city’s evidence will still be a factor that will help the union win in arbitration and court.

“From my point of view, it’s going to happen again because the city brings lousy cases and their evidence is poor, but when they lose, they blame the arbitrator rather than their evidence,” he said.

Fisher isn’t sure that the matrix will make a big difference. “We can be hopeful,” she said. “But all we can do is wait to see.”

Exhibit 5: Officer Aaron Fetty, age 41

Hired: 2007

Fired: September 2022

Accusation(s): After an alcohol-fueled evening in 2021, he ended up in the bed of another officer and engaged in what a judge decided, by a preponderance of evidence, was sexual assault.

What happened next: Arbitrators and courts ruled that the termination violated contract provisions, ordering reinstatement. The city has appealed to the state Supreme Court, and that case is pending.

Payout: None to date

The city has taken its effort to fire Aaron Fetty all the way to the state Supreme Court.

In that matter, detailed in a PublicSource and City Cast Pittsburgh story , a civil court judge found that Fetty committed sexual assault against another officer. The neutral arbitrator found that the city tried to punish Fetty twice for the same violation, first suspending him in September 2021, then terminating him a year later — well beyond the time limits in the police contract.

Fetty remains off duty while the city asks the state’s highest court to overturn the decision of the arbitrator, which was affirmed by a common pleas judge and Commonwealth Court.

"We feel there was off-duty conduct that occurred that was not acceptable behavior, and we just want to ensure that we have the ability to discipline for that,” Schmidt said.

Swartzwelder said such long processes do more harm than good.

“The officer is then vindicated and can return to duty, and the process worked,” he said. “But the damage done is tremendous to the officer and the officer’s family.”

Exhibit 6: Officer Robert Redman, age 34

Hired: 2023

Fired: May 2024

Accusation(s): Available public documents don’t say why he was terminated less than two months after he was sworn in following a year of training. Court documents do, however, show that he was charged with driving under the influence three days before his termination.

What happened next: The FOP took the matter to the Court of Common Pleas, where briefing is occurring.

Payout: None to date

PublicSource reached out to all of the officers whose cases are detailed here. One responded and said he was not allowed to talk because he is a city employee. Others did not respond. Robert Kramer — no longer a city employee — was willing to tell his story.

Kramer joined the bureau on the advice of his sister, then a city officer. Assigned to the North Side, his position on the officer totem pole rapidly improved, he said. He connected with the community by, for instance, deejaying a school dance. He was offered the role of a community resource officer.

Things went sideways in May 2017, when he was accused of pointing a gun at the driver of another car. Charged with simple assault, he was disciplined within the bureau for violating policies regarding conduct unbecoming, obedience to laws and orders and truthfulness. Around six weeks later, he was terminated.

Kramer assembled information that his accuser had felony convictions for drugs and violence and had posted anti-police videos online, and that the accusation and city police investigation were replete with inconsistencies.

The city “took the word of a well-known felon over Robert Kramer,” said Swartzwelder.

More than a year after the incident, Kramer was acquitted .

The union then filed a grievance demanding that the city bring him back to work. In early 2019, an arbitrator ruled in favor of the union and Kramer. The city, according to the arbitrator, failed to call as witnesses the accuser or any of the investigating officers. Kramer, meanwhile, testified that he could not have been holding a gun on the date in question because he had sustained a hand injury at work on the prior day and might have been holding a cell phone.

The city appealed to the Court of Common Pleas and the Commonwealth Court, losing at both levels.

Exhibit 7: Former officer Robert Kramer, age 35

Hired: 2013

Fired: October 2017

Accusation(s): Brandished a gun at a motorist, then lied about whether he owned a matching gun.

What happened next: After Kramer was cleared on criminal charges, he filed a grievance, and an arbitrator ordered the city to return him to work. His wrongful-termination lawsuit against the city resulted in a settlement.

Payout: $146,620 in back pay and $150,000 in the settlement

Kramer scraped by for two years and four months before his six-figure payday finally came.

He’d gone without health insurance, traded down to a cheaper car and reluctantly borrowed from friends and relatives while fighting both his termination and a criminal charge.

Finally, the city made good on the $146,620 it owed him for more than two years in which he would have otherwise been on the beat.

“That's when I was like, ‘All right, I can breathe now,’” Kramer recounted four years later in the living room of his West Pittsburgh home. “I can pay some of my stuff off, pay people back.”

By the time his wrongful termination lawsuit reached mediation stage, he felt “mentally, physically drained from seeing my name on the news, seeing anything with my name, anything about police work. I was just like, over it.”

In 2021, the city paid another $150,000 to settle Kramer’s lawsuit, but he wasn’t doing a victory dance.

“I was planning on working [for the city] another 20 years,” he said. “I don't feel like I won at all, really.”

Schmidt declined to talk about the city’s handling of the Kramer case, which occurred before he was director.

Speaking generally, the director defended the overall effect of the city’s disciplinary policy, even when it eventually results in reversal and back pay.

“It gives us the opportunity to show the other officers that are doing great work out there every day that we are holding accountable the ones that aren't.”

It’s not necessarily wrong for cities to fire officers even though they stand a good chance of returning to work with back pay, said David Harris, a University of Pittsburgh law professor and author of the 2020 book “A City Divided: Race, Fear, and the Law in Police Confrontations.”

“It’s not a waste of resources to attempt to have your police force and your police officers behave the way you expect,” he said.

Nonetheless, it’s corrosive to see officers who don’t belong in the profession being fired and returning, he said. “There are some in most departments of any size that should be in another profession,” he said. “And if you can’t get rid of them, the whole department suffers.”

In Harris’ view, police accountability problems can’t be addressed without changes to Act 111. The Pennsylvania Municipal League has proposed changes to the law , including:

• Requiring the arbitrator to justify decisions based on the facts and evidence presented
• Opening contract arbitration evidentiary hearings to the public
• Relaxing thresholds for appealing arbitration decisions.

Harris said he isn’t surprised that the 56-year-old law hasn’t seen a rewrite. “Many members of the legislature, certainly in the past and even now, are former law enforcement themselves. The police unions in this state are pretty prominent and pretty strong. … So it doesn’t have a natural receptive audience in Harrisburg reforming that.”

Swartzwelder said that if the legislature decides to revisit Act 111, it would have to consider the compromise at its core: Municipalities have to submit to binding arbitration, but police and firefighters can’t strike.

In the wake of the Edmonds decision, the NAACP, APA and BPEP, in their joint statement, alluded to the law, calling on the General Assembly “to bring about the change that justice demands.”

Former officer Kramer said he understands why some police face discipline.

"You've got some bad apples in the city," he said. "Sure, if it's one of them, I can get it. You want to get them fired, you want them out of there, you're going to pressure them, whatever.”

He hadn't been a subject of a citizen complaint prior to the one that got him fired, he said.

He never returned to policing. Instead he’s building his DJ business and starting a family after years of uncertainty stemming from the career he thought would bring him stability.

“I don't want to be a part of it.”

Rich Lord is PublicSource’s managing editor, and can be reached at rich@publicsource.org .

This story was fact-checked by Elizabeth Szeto.

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