August 1st, 2024

As reported in the Washington Post this week, two U.S. Park Police officers sued the Department of the Interior for keeping them on administrative leave for more than two years. Crowley So attorneys Daniel S. Crowley and Katelyn A. Clarke represent one of the officers.

The case stems from a 2017 traffic stop on the George Washington Memorial Parkway that resulted in the death of a motorist. The Department of Justice conducted an extensive investigation and in 2019 declined to charge the officers. The Commonwealth's Attorney for Fairfax County, Virginia, then obtained indictments against the officers for involuntary manslaughter. The case was removed to federal court and then dismissed when a federal judge ruled that the officers reasonably believed the driver's actions created an “imminent, life-threatening danger" to themselves and that "to discharge their firearms was necessary and proper under the circumstances." The Commonwealth appealed the decision but later withdrew its appeal.

Despite their exoneration, the Interior Department initiated termination proceedings against the officers in November 2021. The Department's internal procedures and collective bargaining agreement with the officers’ union both delegate personnel authority to the Chief of U.S. Park Police and require an internal investigation prior to any disciplinary action. But the Department ignored these and other procedural safeguards. It went around the Chief of Police and began termination proceedings without conducting any investigation.

Since then, the Department has not issued any decision, leaving the officers on administrative leave for more than two years. Frustrated by the lack of resolution, the officers have now taken their case to federal court under the Administrative Procedures Act. They ask the court to compel Department officials to fulfill their obligations and make a decision regarding their employment status.