"Fired airport safety and security officer files suit"

Sunday, March 21, 2004

Fired airport safety and security officer files suit
BY KERRI RICHARDSON
WHAS-TV Ch 11, Louisville, Kentucky


A fired airport saftey and security officer has filed a lawsuit claiming
he was dismissed because he blew the whistle when another officer was
drunk on duty. 

Gary Fields, a former police officer, was hired as a part-time officer
by the Louisville Regional Airport Authority in 2001. As an elected
justice of the peace, he requested - and was granted - Saturday as a
regular off day so he could attend to those duties, particularly
weddings. 

"I've done [weddings] in prison. I've done them in hot tubs," Fields
said. 

Last October, Fields reported that a fellow officer was drunk during an
explosives-detection exercise. His lawsuit claims that, rather than
investigating his report, Airport Authority officials turned their
scrutiny to his status as a justice of the peace and whether it
conflicted with his airport job. 

The county attorney issued an opinion that no conflict of interest
existed. But, in a confidential memo, the Airport Authority informed
Fields that a conflict existed and recommended that he resign his
airport duties. He refused, and was eventually fired. 

An Airport Authority spokesman declined to comment on the suit. Efforts
to contact the officer accused of being drunk on the job were
unsuccessful.

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