Post by Logan on Jun 21, 2016 23:12:31 GMT -6
Jeremy Romero was a law enforcement officer who dared to cross the thin blue line in 2011 by reporting to superiors at the state Department of Public Safety that he had seen one of his fellow agents in the Special Investigations Division with a prostitute in a state-issued patrol car.
Romero lost his job for his trouble, according to allegations he made in a 2013 whistleblower complaint. According to documents that only recently became public, New Mexico taxpayers lost, too. After waging a taxpayer-funded legal battle against Romero for several years, the state Department of Public Safety agreed to pay Romero $900,000 to settle the case out of court.
“They fought us tooth and nail,” Romero’s attorney, Rachel Higgins, said Thursday. “This case was fought from the standpoint that he was nothing but a liar with sour grapes in his mouth. But at the end of the day, the result demonstrates that he was telling the truth the whole time, and it’s vindicating in that respect.”
Romero, who is now working desk duty from a wheelchair as a reserve deputy for the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department, said there isn’t a day that goes by when he doesn’t ask himself if he would still be walking today if he had just kept his mouth shut.
Read more: www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/state-pays-officer-k-in-whistleblower-settlement/article_4be9e80d-6f9d-5370-8b1f-47e696590600.html
Romero lost his job for his trouble, according to allegations he made in a 2013 whistleblower complaint. According to documents that only recently became public, New Mexico taxpayers lost, too. After waging a taxpayer-funded legal battle against Romero for several years, the state Department of Public Safety agreed to pay Romero $900,000 to settle the case out of court.
“They fought us tooth and nail,” Romero’s attorney, Rachel Higgins, said Thursday. “This case was fought from the standpoint that he was nothing but a liar with sour grapes in his mouth. But at the end of the day, the result demonstrates that he was telling the truth the whole time, and it’s vindicating in that respect.”
Romero, who is now working desk duty from a wheelchair as a reserve deputy for the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department, said there isn’t a day that goes by when he doesn’t ask himself if he would still be walking today if he had just kept his mouth shut.
Read more: www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/state-pays-officer-k-in-whistleblower-settlement/article_4be9e80d-6f9d-5370-8b1f-47e696590600.html