HomeMy WebLinkAboutAdministrative Record Part 6ARBITRATION HEARING ON AUGUST 21, 2015, VOL. 7 8/21/2015
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1 A. Yes.
2 Q. Do you also get from him that Sergeant Pfarr
3 called him and told him he put him in a bad spot and to
4 put those parts back?
5 A. Yes.
6 Q. And Mr. Waddell did, indeed, put the wheel
7 covers back in the driver's seat of the Bentley,
8 according to him?
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. And he said that he realized he made a bad
11 choice and he takes responsibility for it?
12 A. Yes.
13 Q. Can those things, alone -- without regard to
14 what Mr. Amoroso says and the other officers say, can
15 those facts, alone, coming from Mr. Waddell, support
16 your finding?
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. On their own?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. Why? You made two conclusions there, you made
21 two findings, allegation one and two.
22 A. Well, allegation one, he, clearly, removed at
23 least one part from the vehicle without the vehicle
24 owner's permission.
25 Q. Let me stop you there.
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1 Whether, indeed, it was a joke or not, did he
2 engage in that conduct?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. Was the items he removed his personal property?
5 A. No.
6 Q. Were they the property of another?
7 A. Yes.
8 Q. Does the fact that he was engaging in a joke
9 change the fact that he did remove the property of
10 another from the car?
11 A. No, it does not.
12 Q. Please go on.
13 A. Secondly, the evidence showed that knowingly
14 and willfully attempted to remove the vehicle part that
15 did not belong to him. That was the Vehicle Code
16 section one.
17 Q. Thank you. Going back, again, to -- did -- did
18 you find it necessary -- strike that.
19 During some of your interviews, did the CAT
20 shift event and some of the facts from the CAT shift
21 event creep into some of your interview?
22 A. Yes.
23 Q. Did you elicit those things?
24 A. No.
25 Q. Did they come up from the witness or from you?
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1 A. I believe, from the witness.
2 Q. In what context?
3 A. To, kind of, explain why all this was coming
4 up.
5 Q. Late?
6 A. Yes.
7 Q. Rather than at the time?
8 A. Yes.
9 Q. The way I -- the way I noticed it was that the
10 event occurred on February 22nd of 2013. Sergeant Pfarr
11 saw what he saw and did what he did. Okay? Are you
12 with me?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. And then the basis for my writing Pfarr up
15 there with an arrow, his mind starts evolving, doesn't
16 it?
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. And was part of -- from your point of view, was
19 part of the reason his mind started evolving because he
20 was working closer with Mr. Waddell than he had before?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. And that he saw him do and not do certain
23 things?
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. One of them was how he acted on the CAT shift?
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1 A. Yes.
2 Q. So to explain how his brain evolved, he had to,
3 necessarily, go through the CAT shift stuff?
4 A. Yes.
5 Q. Is that how you saw it?
6 A. Yes.
7 Q. You weren't investigating the CAT shift event,
8 were you?
9 A. No.
10 Q. But could you avoid the overlap?
11 A. No.
12 Q. Same thing with Smith and Bledsoe?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. You've been here 30 years?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. You were here for part of the '80s?
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. Is a practical joke different now than what it
19 was in the '80s?
20 A. Yes.
21 MS. CASTILLO: Objection. Relevance.
22 THE HEARING OFFICER: Overruled. I'll allow
23 it.
24 THE WITNESS: Yes.
25 THE HEARING OFFICER: Are you going to get him
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1 to say how so?
2 MR. PALMER: Sure.
3 THE HEARING OFFICER: Otherwise, it won't do me
4 any good. I don't know if it does me any good, anyway,
5 but I will be curious to see.
6 THE WITNESS: One aspect of public scrutiny of
7 law enforcement and government employees and the
8 professionalism has risen to where the practical jokes
9 of yesterday would not be appropriate today and not --
10 not in the eyes of the public or police administrators
11 or anybody.
12 BY MR. PALMER:
13 Q. Do you agree with me practical jokes now have
14 to be carefully constructed?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. Have to know who your audience is, or your
17 potential audience is?
18 A. And even that, I mean, things change. So yes.
19 Q. Was it your experience in doing practical
20 jokes, either being the butt of them or being the
21 instigator in them, that not all, but the majority of
22 practical jokes go through some planning before they're
23 implemented?
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. And with exception of, perhaps, the butt, or
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1 butts, of the joke, there can sometimes be a lot of
2 people involved in it?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. Who already know what they're doing?
5 A. Yes.
6 Q. And who have already discussed it and are on
7 the same page?
8 A. Yes.
9 THE HEARING OFFICER: You know, I really
10 don't -- you haven't qualified him as an expert on
11 practical jokes, although, he might be, but this isn't
12 going anywhere for me.
13 MR. PALMER: I'll move on.
14 THE HEARING OFFICER: Thank you.
15 MR. PALMER: Nothing further.
16 THE HEARING OFFICER: Redirect?
17 MS. CASTILLO: Thanks.
18
19 REDIRECT EXAMINATION
20 BY MS. CASTILLO:
21 Q. We've already heard that your first interview
22 with the tow truck driver was not recorded.
23 Your second interview with him was not recorded
24 either, correct?
25 A. Correct.
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1 Q. And your second interview with Sergeant Pfarr
2 was not recorded, correct?
3 A. Correct.
4 Q. And in the transcript that we have of Officer
5 Cudworth, it cuts off, correct?
6 A. Yes.
7 Q. Okay. And did you have an opportunity, at all,
8 to look at the transcript of Officer Cudworth?
9 A. I did not.
10 Q. Okay. The part of your synopsis in Exhibit 8
11 where you say that he said it was not a joke and that it
12 was for personal gain is not in the transcript. So I
13 will represent that to you. So that would be in the
14 unrecorded part.
15 Also, in the unrecorded part -- and so I'm
16 going to ask you a question about this, is -- well, let
17 me back up.
18 THE HEARING OFFICER: Can I just ask a
19 question? There was a second interview of Sergeant
20 Pfarr that was not recorded? Is that what you testified
21 to?
22 THE WITNESS: Yes.
23 THE HEARING OFFICER: Okay.
24 BY MS. CASTILLO:
25 Q. Okay. In the recorded part of Officer
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1 Cudworth, he says that he never saw Officer Waddell take
2 anything, and you recall that from your interview with
3 him, right?
4 A. Yes.
5 Q. Okay. And he also says that all he heard was
6 the request for this screwdriver, right? You remember
7 that part, right?
8 A. Yes.
9 Q. Okay. But -- and I don't know. So I have to
10 rely on you.
11 Did you ever ask him if he had any conversation
12 with Officer Waddell about a joke?
13 A. I did not ask him that.
14 Q. Okay. So it was just his observations that it
15 didn't appear to be a joke, right?
16 A. Correct.
17 Q. Okay. And Officer Cudworth says that he
18 recalls Sergeant Pfarr at the scene saying, don't do
19 this, right?
20 A. Well, the quote was, "What the heck."
21 Q. Okay. But that was at the scene, right?
22 A. Yes.
23 Q. Okay. Which is not what Sergeant Pfarr ever
24 told you, right?
25 A. The exact wording?
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1 Q. Or anything similar to, right?
2 Because Sergeant Pfarr said, ha, ha, funny, I'm
3 leaving, right?
4 A. Yes.
5 Q. And Sergeant Pfarr also said, put that back, at
6 the scene, right?
7 Or he said that he said that on the phone, but
8 Cudworth and Kevany both said that was said at the
9 scene, right?
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. Okay. And, in fact, Officer Cudworth said he
12 saw Pfarr talking to Waddell at the scene and he assumed
13 he was going to tell him, what are you doing, what the
14 heck are you doing, knock it off, right?
15 A. Yes. And that he better not be taking any car
16 part from an accident scene right before Pfarr left the
17 scene.
18 Q. Right. That was an assumption made by
19 Cudworth, right?
20 A. Yes.
21 Q. Just like it was an assumption that it wasn't a
22 joke, right?
23 A. Yes.
24 Q. Those are all assumptions Cudworth made, right?
25 A. Yes.
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1 Q. Because he had no personal knowledge whether or
2 not it was a joke, right?
3 A. Correct.
4 Q. Okay. So Cudworth -- in this chart over here,
5 where it was not a practical joke, that was based on an
6 assumption, not actual knowledge, right?
7 A. It was his belief that it was a practical joke.
8 Q. Right. Because he had no conversation with
9 Officer Waddell, right?
10 A. Well, I think, the totality of the
11 circumstances, he's viewing this --
12 Q. Right. He had no conversation with Officer
13 Waddell, right?
14 A. Correct.
15 Q. Okay. In fact, he told you, I wasn't part of
16 the conversation, I didn't hear it, right?
17 A. Correct.
18 Q. Okay. So that's what Cudworth said.
19 Now, going to Kevany, you also didn't have the
20 opportunity to review this transcript, did you?
21 A. No.
22 Q. Okay. Do you have Appellant's Exhibit AA?
23 She's also in your what you had not a practical
24 joke chart. Do you see that?
25 A. Yes.
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1 Q. Okay. And you're agreeing with this chart up
2 here, right?
3 A. Yes.
4 THE HEARING OFFICER: Which one are we looking
5 at now?
6 MS. CASTILLO: Appellant's double A.
7 THE HEARING OFFICER: That's Kevany?
8 MS. CASTILLO: Yes.
9 THE HEARING OFFICER: Okay.
10 BY MS. CASTILLO:
11 Q. Can you look at Page 5?
12 A. I don't know where that one is.
13 THE HEARING OFFICER: Is this it, here?
14 THE WITNESS: Yeah. AA.
15 THE HEARING OFFICER: Yeah.
16 BY MS. CASTILLO:
17 Q. Let's start with Page 5, Line 12. So you're
18 interviewing Kevany and she talk -- you ask her about
19 Officer Waddell removing anything from the vehicle and
20 she's saying trophy for traffic, nothing for personal
21 gain, we were just messing around. Do you see that
22 starting at Line 7?
23 A. Yes.
24 Q. And you ask her, "So you said we. Does that
25 collectively mean you guys decided to do that?" You see
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1 that, going to Line 12?
2 A. Yes.
3 Q. And she responds, "No." Do you see that?
4 A. Yes.
5 Q. Okay. Did she ever, at any point during your
6 interview with her, tell you that she had a conversation
7 with Officer Waddell about this joke?
8 A. No.
9 Q. Did Officer Waddell, at any point during his
10 interview with you, tell you that he had a conversation
11 with Colleen Kevany about this joke?
12 A. No.
13 Q. Okay. Then on Page 6 at Line 9, you ask her,
14 "Okay. So you say a joke."
15 Okay. And now we're going to go ahead, Page 7,
16 Page 8, and I'm going to refer you to Page 9, Line 2.
17 Her answer, "Yeah. Oh, yeah, and it wasn't anything
18 done maliciously. It was kind of a joke, I thought."
19 Do you see that?
20 A. Yes.
21 Q. Line 18. "There would be no further
22 investigation on the car and it was just kind of a joke
23 to put this in the office?" That's your question. Her
24 answer on 20, "Yeah." You see that?
25 A. Yes.
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1 Q. Okay. And then Mr. Palmer, then, had you skip
2 all the way down to 21 about this. "Had you heard
3 anything during this that it was a joke on Chad because
4 he was a brand new supervisor?" "No."
5 So she believed it was a joke, she just didn't
6 know it was a joke on Chad; would you agree with that?
7 A. No.
8 Q. Okay. So she just said a million times that it
9 was a joke, but you're not going to characterize it as a
10 joke on Chad? Is that what you're saying?
11 A. I don't understand that question.
12 Q. She said it was kind of a joke. It was a joke.
13 I believed it was a joke. Yes, it was a joke.
14 And you're saying, no, it wasn't a joke?
15 A. I don't think so.
16 Q. Okay. "It was kind of a joke, I thought."
17 Those are her words, right? Look at Line 2.
18 A. Yeah. I'm just looking at my interview with
19 her.
20 Q. This is your interview with her.
21 THE HEARING OFFICER: We should be looking at
22 the same thing, transcript.
23 MS. CASTILLO: I have the transcript.
24 THE HEARING OFFICER: You're looking at your
25 report, and rather than Exhibit 8, it should be
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1 Appellant's Exhibit AA.
2 THE WITNESS: Okay. So what was the question?
3 BY MS. CASTILLO:
4 Q. Did you listen to this?
5 A. Yes.
6 Q. Okay. These are your questions and her
7 answers, right?
8 A. Yes.
9 Q. And she said, "It was kind of a joke, I
10 thought," right?
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. She didn't believe it was a joke on the new
13 supervisor, correct?
14 A. Correct.
15 Q. But she believed it was a joke, correct?
16 A. According to this here, yes.
17 Q. According to her, correct?
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. Okay. And, in fact, if you go to Page 10, when
20 you ask her again if she had known it was a joke on
21 Chad, on Line 10, she says, "I'll tell you, I didn't
22 hear that." Do you see that?
23 A. Yes.
24 Q. Okay. And then on Line 11, she says that she
25 saw Officer Waddell and Sergeant Pfarr at the scene and
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1 Sergeant Pfarr, at the scene, saying, "You've got to be
2 kidding me. You're not going to put me in this
3 position," right?
4 A. Yes.
5 Q. It wasn't back at the department, right?
6 A. Correct.
7 Q. It was at the scene, right?
8 A. Correct.
9 Q. Okay. And that's also what Cudworth said,
10 right?
11 A. Regarding --
12 Q. The conversation at the scene between Waddell
13 and Pfarr.
14 A. Yes.
15 Q. Okay. Going to Page 11, "Did you see Kevin
16 place anything into a large brown paper bag?" "No."
17 "Did you see Kevin go towards his car with a
18 brown paper bag?" And she says, "I don't remember
19 that."
20 And then Line 23, "Do you remember the items,
21 if it was put into a brown paper bag?" Going on to Page
22 12, "No. I mean, they were tossed back inside, just
23 loose, yes." Do you see that?
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. Page 12.
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1 Did anyone else, between -- or besides Sergeant
2 Pfarr ever tell you that there was anything with this
3 brown paper bag?
4 A. I don't believe so.
5 Q. He's the only person who saw this brown paper
6 bag out of all the witnesses that you interviewed?
7 A. Correct.
8 Q. Okay. Now, let me ask you again.
9 Was this as he was driving away, as he said in
10 his interview, or was this as he was walking away, as he
11 said in his memo?
12 A. I don't know.
13 Q. Okay. And, again, she confirms that the
14 conversation of "you've got to be kidding me," on Page
15 12, was right there at the scene, according to Lines 14
16 and 16.
17 Do you remember documenting that in your
18 report?
19 A. Of what statement?
20 Q. The conversation, the admonishment of, hey,
21 don't do this, was right at the scene --
22 A. Yes.
23 Q. -- not later.
24 A. Correct.
25 Q. All right. So you write in Department's 8 that
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1 she was evasive and you didn't think she was
2 forthcoming. Remember all that?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. Okay. Why?
5 A. Because I, personally, interviewed her.
6 Q. Yeah. Okay.
7 So, what, she didn't answer any of your
8 questions?
9 A. She answered questions.
10 Q. Okay. So what about her not answering
11 questions was evasive? Was there lag time?
12 A. It was her nervousness, her body language.
13 Q. Did you document, specifically, what drew you
14 to that conclusion?
15 A. Those were my observations.
16 Q. Okay. But, I mean, did you document that? You
17 wrote evasive, but you didn't write anything else about
18 that in your report.
19 A. Correct.
20 Q. Okay. Just a minute ago, after Mr. Palmer
21 suggested it to you, you said that the -- Mr. Brady was
22 uncooperative and not forthcoming.
23 I did not see that anywhere in your report.
24 How come you didn't write about that?
25 A. I don't know.
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1 Q. Did you just, suddenly, recall that two years
2 later?
3 A. I, adamantly, remember the interviews of the
4 tow truck driver and Officer Kevany.
5 Q. Did you just fail to document his body language
6 and his nervousness and his failure to be forthcoming
7 about what he remembered at the scene?
8 A. I documented what he had told me.
9 Q. Right, but not his lack of cooperativeness, as
10 Mr. Palmer suggested, right?
11 A. Correct.
12 Q. Because you stopped him cold, right? Was, I
13 think, that the reason?
14 A. Correct.
15 Q. Did you prep the other witnesses who came into
16 your office that day for interviews?
17 A. No, I did not.
18 Q. Okay. Again, can I refer you to Page 14? So,
19 Line 3, you ask her, "Do you think Kevin knows that it
20 shouldn't be done?" And she, in her evasiveness, says,
21 "Yeah. I would hope so. I knew it, too, but it seemed
22 kind of funny at the time. It was meant to be just a
23 joke."
24 And your belief was that this, again, was not
25 Colleen Kevany telling you that this was a joke and
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1 that's what you wrote in your report?
2 A. I don't understand the question.
3 Q. Did you write in your report that Colleen
4 Kevany did not think this was a joke?
5 A. I wrote that Kevany said the taking of the
6 emblem was definitely not a joke being played on
7 Sergeant Pfarr because he was a brand new supervisor.
8 Q. Well, you did write that, but you left out the
9 whole part about it being a joke, correct?
10 MR. PALMER: Objection. Misstates the
11 evidence. It's right there in the earlier part of his
12 summary.
13 THE HEARING OFFICER: Well, the witness has
14 testified, and I think maybe this chart's incomplete,
15 that it was -- that she didn't consider it to be a
16 practical joke on Sergeant Pfarr.
17 So you've established she used the term, joke,
18 many times, but not in that context. So I don't know
19 what more we're going to get out of him. He said what
20 he said and that's it.
21 BY MS. CASTILLO:
22 Q. If you painstakingly wrote in your report, as
23 you testified on direct -- or cross, chronologically,
24 why, when you received these edits from your
25 supervisors, would you allow them to change your words
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1 if they had not had transcripts or audios of your
2 interviews?
3 A. I did not allow them to change my words. They
4 were suggestions that I mixed in with what I had put,
5 and then if it makes sense to me and it was a better
6 tense of the word or a better way to explain something,
7 I used it.
8 Q. Did you ever disregard any of the changes made
9 by your chief?
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. You did?
12 A. Yes.
13 Q. Can you point to some of them?
14 A. I can't.
15 Q. Okay. You testified -- when I asked you if you
16 knew why you received the IA from Lieutenant Bledsoe,
17 his IA, right, you said I don't know?
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. And then when Mr. Palmer asked you, you said I
20 don't know. And then when he suggested it was, maybe,
21 because of Lexipol, then you said, oh, yes, that sounds
22 right. Do you remember that?
23 A. Yes.
24 Q. Okay. And it was because, maybe, Lieutenant
25 Bledsoe was going to show you how to do formatting. Do
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1 you remember that?
2 A. Yes.
3 Q. Okay. Were you aware that when you received
4 that, that he was not done with his investigation?
5 A. I did not know that.
6 Q. Okay. How is it that you received that? Did
7 you ask him for a copy?
8 A. I believe so, when I heard or figured out that
9 I was using a previous format. Because when I asked
10 him, and I recollect this now, that that's what happened
11 a year and a half ago.
12 Q. Okay. And so you were assigned this
13 investigation by Captain Storton?
14 A. Yes.
15 Q. And then you were reporting to Captain Staley?
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. And you couldn't go to Captain Staley and say,
18 hey, what is the new format I'm supposed to use?
19 A. I did not know there was a new format when they
20 started this.
21 Q. But when you realized it and now you went to
22 your witness and asked him for his ongoing investigation
23 of the same person --
24 THE HEARING OFFICER: Well, wait. I don't know
25 if that's established.
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1 Did you ask for Lieutenant Bledsoe's draft
2 about Officer Waddell or did you just ask him for a
3 form?
4 THE WITNESS: No. I asked him for the draft.
5 THE HEARING OFFICER: Okay.
6 BY MS. CASTILLO:
7 Q. So you couldn't get another IA of a different
8 person?
9 A. We have very few IAs at this department and, in
10 my mind, that was one that would be correct because we
11 had just recently changed the Lexipol. We don't have
12 these going on every month. We have very few of these.
13 Q. I have your Lexipol from that time period,
14 which says how to do it and the format. You could have
15 followed this, right? And it tells you how. Have you
16 seen this before?
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. It would have been available to you, right,
19 Lieutenant?
20 A. Yes.
21 Q. You didn't need to look at Officer Waddell's
22 other investigation with findings on his credibility in
23 order to figure out how to write an IA, right?
24 A. Well, there's a difference in that this shows
25 you the titles and everything. The example was how the
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1 document should flow with interviews and stuff like
2 that.
3 Q. Okay. This says, "Introduction," and what an
4 introduction is, right?
5 A. Correct.
6 Q. Then it says, "Synopsis," and what a synopsis
7 is, right?
8 A. Yes.
9 Q. Okay. And then it says, "Summary of
10 allegations, list them separately, including policy.
11 Provide summary, separate findings." You see that,
12 right?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. And then, "Evidence," and it tells you what to
15 do there, right?
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. And then, "Conclusion," and it tells you what
18 to do there, right?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. And then, "Exhibits," and it tells you what to
21 do there, right?
22 A. Yes.
23 Q. That sounds like exactly what you wrote, right?
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. So are you telling me that this is different
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1 than what you were provided by --
2 A. Absolutely.
3 Q. Where? How?
4 A. Seeing a completed -- or, at that time, I
5 thought it was a completed document, is definitely
6 different than looking at what the titles are.
7 THE HEARING OFFICER: I want to observe it's
8 about five after 3:00, or so. Do you have some more on
9 redirect?
10 MS. CASTILLO: Um --
11 THE HEARING OFFICER: I'm thinking this might
12 be a good time to take a break, unless you're almost
13 done.
14 MS. CASTILLO: We can take a break.
15 THE HEARING OFFICER: Let's stretch our legs.
16 (Recess.)
17 THE HEARING OFFICER: So we're back on the
18 record and we're continuing with the redirect
19 examination of Lieutenant Proll. Ms. Castillo?
20 MS. CASTILLO: Okay. I will make copies of
21 this and have it next time.
22 MR. PALMER: I won't object.
23 THE HEARING OFFICER: Oh. Do we need to do
24 that right now?
25 MS. CASTILLO: I can do that at our next break.
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1 THE HEARING OFFICER: Okay.
2 BY MS. CASTILLO:
3 Q. Lieutenant Proll, you, on cross, were talking
4 to Mr. Palmer about your interview of George Berrios.
5 Do you remember that?
6 A. Yes.
7 Q. And that was, I believe, the inference that you
8 had been suggested to interview him by other people,
9 like Sergeant Pfarr? Do you remember that?
10 A. I don't.
11 Q. I mean, I'm not asking you to look at anything.
12 THE HEARING OFFICER: It wouldn't, probably, be
13 in there. Either you remember it or you don't.
14 THE WITNESS: I don't.
15 BY MS. CASTILLO:
16 Q. What do you remember about that conversation on
17 cross-examination?
18 A. I think the conversation was did you, at
19 certain points, find out different people were involved,
20 were at the scene or weren't at the scene.
21 Q. And you knew George Berrios was not at the
22 scene?
23 A. Correct.
24 Q. And you had been asked by the captain to
25 interview about DRMO?
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1 A. Yes.
2 Q. Did you remember, yet, what captain that was?
3 A. No.
4 Q. So knowing that George Berrios was not there,
5 how was it that you decided to interview him?
6 A. Well, he was the other DRMO person.
7 Q. Okay.
8 A. And I believe there was some mention, in one of
9 my earlier interviews before that, that Officer Berrios
10 was there.
11 Q. And who was --
12 A. I'd have to look.
13 Q. Okay. It probably wasn't Mr. Brady, who didn't
14 know anyone but Colleen Kevany, right?
15 A. Correct.
16 Q. And Josh Walsh didn't say George Berrios?
17 A. Well, before I answer, I'd like to look at...
18 Q. What are you referencing, first of all?
19 A. My copy of my memo.
20 Q. Okay. Well, I will tell you the people you
21 interviewed before George Berrios were Colleen Kevany,
22 Cudworth and Amoroso and Josh Walsh.
23 Do you remember if any of those people said
24 George Berrios was there?
25 A. I don't remember.
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1 Q. Okay. But it would have had to have been one
2 of those people, right? Right?
3 THE HEARING OFFICER: If you know.
4 THE WITNESS: I don't know.
5 BY MS. CASTILLO:
6 Q. Well, if it wasn't DRMO-related and the only --
7 because your testimony on cross now was that he might
8 have been there and that was one of the reasons, not
9 just because of DRMO, right?
10 A. Correct. I could have got the information that
11 he might have been there from another source.
12 Q. Well, not the event history, right?
13 A. Correct.
14 Q. Okay. So it would have been this other source
15 that would have been Josh Walsh, Colleen Kevany, Robert
16 Cudworth or Brian Amoroso, right?
17 Unless you have some other witness that we
18 don't know about that you didn't document, correct?
19 A. Correct.
20 Q. Okay. Did you ever come across any photographs
21 that were after the Bentley was on its wheels?
22 A. I believe the one that I saw today from what I
23 thought was the insurance adjustor.
24 Q. Okay. Other than that one?
25 A. No.
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1 Q. Okay. On cross-examination, Mr. Palmer asked
2 you about the impression that Mr. Brady had that there
3 was not a practical joke going on. Do you remember
4 that?
5 A. No.
6 Q. You don't remember just testifying about that?
7 A. That Mr. Brady said it was not a practical
8 joke?
9 Q. Well, he ended up in the not practical joke.
10 THE HEARING OFFICER: It wasn't that he said
11 it. This was under the what you had chalked earlier and
12 had Brady there and asked you if you agreed and you said
13 yes.
14 BY MS. CASTILLO:
15 Q. Do you agree with that chart still?
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. But you never asked him about a practical joke,
18 right?
19 A. Correct.
20 Q. So this is an assumption on your part, right?
21 Are you reading something?
22 A. I was referring to this.
23 Q. Well, I need you to answer my questions and not
24 read.
25 A. I'm trying to find the answer so I don't give
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1 you an incorrect answer.
2 THE HEARING OFFICER: Well, I appreciate that
3 you've been diligent about consulting that, but she's
4 entitled to get an answer, whether you remember it or
5 not, and if there's specific info there that you,
6 somehow, missed, Mr. Palmer is more than capable of
7 directing you to it on cross-examination.
8 So if you don't remember, you don't remember.
9 If you remember, then --
10 THE WITNESS: I don't remember.
11 BY MS. CASTILLO:
12 Q. How did you get the insurance adjustor
13 photograph? Was that faxed to you? It was not
14 e-mailed, right?
15 A. I don't recall.
16 Q. Well, it is not the best quality. It's not
17 color, right?
18 A. I don't believe the one in here is color. I
19 don't recall what the one I turned in attached to the
20 report was.
21 Q. Is it any different than what you've seen in
22 Exhibit 11?
23 A. Not that I recall.
24 Q. Okay. So Officer Waddell said that he assumed
25 the tow truck driver saw what he was doing, right?
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1 A. Yes.
2 Q. Okay. But the tow truck driver said he didn't,
3 correct?
4 A. Correct.
5 Q. Okay. So your finding and your conclusion was
6 based on what Officer Waddell was speculating as to and
7 not actual fact, right?
8 A. My conclusion was based on the totality of my
9 investigation.
10 Q. That was a yes or no question.
11 THE HEARING OFFICER: Let's try it again. I
12 didn't hear the yes or no part, but I may have missed
13 it.
14 BY MS. CASTILLO:
15 Q. Your conclusion was based on the speculation of
16 Officer Waddell believing that the citizen tow truck
17 driver saw what he was doing, when, in fact, he said he
18 didn't, and your response was totality, right?
19 So, I guess, my yes or no would be, since your
20 answer's going to be the totality, right, isn't it
21 true -- okay.
22 So, yes or no, isn't it true that it wasn't a
23 citizen that saw it, that it would have only been the
24 police officers?
25 THE HEARING OFFICER: So what's the "it" in
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1 that?
2 MS. CASTILLO: Whatever was written in his
3 conclusion on Page 8. Can you turn to it? Referencing
4 the citizen.
5 THE HEARING OFFICER: Page 25?
6 BY MS. CASTILLO:
7 Q. At least one citizen, right?
8 A. Yes.
9 Q. So this conduct that violated the Vehicle Code
10 witnessed by, at least, one citizen, right?
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. Okay. That is based on the speculation of
13 Officer Waddell, only, correct?
14 A. No.
15 Q. What is that based on?
16 A. That's -- the conclusion is based on my
17 totality of the circumstances investigating this
18 incident.
19 Q. Okay. Even though the driver said he didn't
20 see anything?
21 A. Correct.
22 MS. CASTILLO: I don't have anything else.
23 THE HEARING OFFICER: Recross?
24 MR. PALMER: Just one area of inquiry.
25 ///
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1 RECROSS-EXAMINATION
2 BY MR. PALMER:
3 Q. Exhibit 8, Page 5, your reinterview of the tow
4 truck driver, Brady, March 31, 2013. Do you have that
5 paragraph?
6 A. Yes.
7 Q. Middle of the paragraph, "I asked Brady if any
8 of the officers at the scene mentioned taking hubcaps as
9 part of a joke."
10 Is that what forms the basis of putting Brady
11 in the not-a-practical-joke column?
12 A. Yes.
13 MR. PALMER: Nothing further.
14 MS. CASTILLO: Wait. Where? I'm trying to see
15 where you're pointing to.
16 THE HEARING OFFICER: Redirect?
17 MS. CASTILLO: Wait. I didn't see where he was
18 pointing at. No, not on that. I do have one more
19 thing.
20
21 REDIRECT EXAMINATION
22 BY MS. CASTILLO:
23 Q. Can you look at Department's Exhibit 7, please?
24 This is Lieutenant Bledsoe's investigation to Captain
25 Staley, to Chief Gesell; is that right?
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1 A. Yes.
2 Q. Is this what you received from Lieutenant
3 Bledsoe?
4 A. I believe so; although, you had mentioned it
5 wasn't a complete one. So I wasn't sure if, when I got
6 it, it was complete or not.
7 Q. Okay. This is what you were looking at for
8 format, right?
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. Okay. Can you look at his conclusion on Page
11 14? Conclusion, one line, exhibits, and then yours on
12 25. Yours restates the allegations.
13 You didn't, exactly, follow his format, did
14 you?
15 A. It doesn't look like it.
16 MS. CASTILLO: Okay. Nothing further.
17 THE HEARING OFFICER: Anything on recross?
18 MR. PALMER: The horse is dead.
19 THE HEARING OFFICER: So are we done with
20 Lieutenant Proll and can we excuse him?
21 MS. CASTILLO: I believe so.
22 THE HEARING OFFICER: Very good. Thanks,
23 Lieutenant. You're free to go.
24 THE WITNESS: Thank you.
25 THE HEARING OFFICER: Let's go off the record
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1 for a second.
2 (Recess.)
3 THE HEARING OFFICER: We're back on the record.
4 The appellant has called Sergeant Pfarr on direct.
5 Sergeant Pfarr, you testified earlier. So
6 you're still under oath. Do you remember that?
7 THE WITNESS: I do.
8 THE HEARING OFFICER: Very good. Ms. Castillo,
9 you may proceed.
10 MS. CASTILLO: Thank you.
11
12 DIRECT EXAMINATION
13 BY MS. CASTILLO:
14 Q. Hi.
15 A. Hello.
16 Q. Since your testimony last time, have you
17 reviewed any documents in this case?
18 A. No. Oh, actually, I take that back. Yes, I
19 have. I reviewed my memo prepared for Captain Storton
20 regarding the car parts.
21 Q. Okay. So the memo from the 20th?
22 A. Correct.
23 Q. Okay. Did you review any transcripts or your
24 synopsis?
25 A. No.
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1 Q. Okay. Did you review any of the information
2 from the testing IA?
3 A. No.
4 Q. Okay. What did you say to Colleen Kevany and
5 Cudworth at the scene regarding the emblems on the
6 Bentley?
7 A. Nothing, I don't believe.
8 Q. Do you have any idea why both of those officers
9 would say that you said at the scene, what the heck are
10 you doing, or something to the effect of, and I'm
11 paraphrasing, why would you be doing this?
12 A. I don't believe I made any statements to them
13 about that. I talked to them at the police department
14 after we got back from the scene.
15 Q. Okay. I'm asking you, do you have any idea why
16 both of those officers would say that you made
17 statements at the scene to Officer Waddell that they
18 overheard?
19 A. No, unless your paraphrase is not 100 percent
20 accurate, then it's the comment I made about, okay,
21 funny joke, I'm out of here.
22 Q. No, not that comment.
23 A. I don't believe I said anything else.
24 Q. Okay. In terms of the Bentley investigation,
25 when you went to Captain Storton about this and a memo
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1 was drafted, at that point, you absolutely believed that
2 Officer Waddell had intended to steal the emblems,
3 correct?
4 A. I believe so.
5 Q. And that was based on the fact that now you had
6 worked with him over some period of time and you believe
7 that he was lazy?
8 A. No. That's not why I believed it, but, partly,
9 because I worked with him for an extended period of time
10 at that point.
11 Q. Okay. When you were interviewed by Lieutenant
12 Proll, you said to him that you believed that he was
13 lazy, correct?
14 A. I believe I said that.
15 Q. Okay. And that you believed -- after watching
16 him work for some period of time, now you believed that
17 his work caused you to change your opinion from the
18 night of the Bentley incident to -- from a joke to a
19 theft, right?
20 A. It was also my naivety at the time, and having
21 been a supervisor a little bit longer by the December
22 time, I think that played into it, as much as my
23 observing his work habits.
24 Q. Okay. So his work habits factored into his
25 intent; is that what you're saying?
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1 A. No, that's not what I'm saying.
2 Q. You're naivety?
3 A. I think his work habits helped shine a light on
4 the level of naivety that I had that night.
5 Q. And how so?
6 A. We all grow and mature as we go through our
7 profession and I think I matured a little bit and saw
8 things that made me think perhaps Kevin is not the
9 person I thought he was.
10 Q. Okay. So from February to August? Is that the
11 time period?
12 A. Well, up until December.
13 Q. What happened in December?
14 A. When I talked to Captain Storton. I thought
15 that's what you were talking about.
16 Q. Well, you started talking to people about your
17 opinion of Kevin around the time of promotions, though,
18 right?
19 A. Correct.
20 Q. Which would have been August, September, right?
21 A. About that time.
22 Q. Okay. So it wasn't December, it was August,
23 right?
24 A. Um, I think I told them, at the time, that I
25 had reservations about him being in the position like
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1 that, not that I believed he absolutely intended to
2 steal any car parts. I don't believe I told him that at
3 that time.
4 Q. A judgment issue, right?
5 A. Correct.
6 Q. But you also had a judgment issue that night
7 because you didn't report it, right?
8 A. Correct.
9 Q. Did you have reservations about you being a
10 supervisor?
11 A. No.
12 Q. Okay. On the night of the Bentley incident,
13 Officer Waddell told you that this was a joke because
14 you were a new supervisor, correct?
15 A. Um, I think that I -- yeah. That was implied.
16 Q. He told you that, right?
17 A. Yeah. We had that conversation.
18 Q. And you told Lieutenant Proll that, right?
19 A. When?
20 Q. When you were interviewed.
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. And then do you recall later telling Lieutenant
23 Proll that didn't happen?
24 A. I don't remember that, no.
25 Q. Okay. When you were -- did you talk to Colleen
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1 Kevany before or after you spoke with Officer Waddell
2 when you were in the office?
3 A. Well, I talked to her at the scene because she
4 was giving me the walk-through and I made the comment
5 about what is he doing, joke's over, ha, ha, whatever
6 the exact verbiage was, and then I talked to her again
7 at the station.
8 Q. Right. And then when you talked to Officer
9 Waddell at the station, was that before or after Colleen
10 Kevany?
11 A. I don't recall. I don't know.
12 Q. Was it before or after the phone call with
13 Officer Waddell?
14 A. I would have talked to her after the phone call
15 because that was done on the way back to the station.
16 Q. Okay. Do you know, were you one of the last
17 people at the scene of the Bentley investigation?
18 A. No.
19 Q. Do you know who was?
20 A. No. Because I wasn't there.
21 Q. Okay. Well, you were the supervisor working
22 that incident, right?
23 A. Yes.
24 Q. Okay. Officer Waddell and Colleen Kevany were
25 working that particular incident, right?
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1 A. Yes.
2 Q. And you said you also talked to Cudworth,
3 right?
4 A. I think I said I believe I did, but I wasn't
5 sure.
6 Q. You don't know?
7 A. I don't recall if I talked to Cudworth or not.
8 Q. But you did tell some people that you handled
9 it with every single individual who would have witnessed
10 it, right?
11 A. Um, I think I told that to Lieutenant Proll.
12 Q. Okay. So that would have included all the
13 officers on scene, right?
14 A. Oh. I know I didn't talk to every officer. I
15 believe, in the context when I was talking to Lieutenant
16 Proll, I told him I believe I talked to everybody,
17 everybody that I could remember. I also believe there
18 was people during that interview that he told me were
19 there and I said I don't remember that person being
20 there, I have to check the radio logs.
21 So my memory is not 100 percent about who was
22 there the last ten minutes that I was there.
23 Q. Okay. So who did you talk to about having
24 handled it?
25 A. I don't know what you just asked.
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1 Q. You told -- you told someone that you had
2 handled it, right?
3 A. I believe Lieutenant Proll and I talked about
4 that.
5 Q. And you said you don't remember every single
6 person who was there.
7 Who do you remember being there besides Waddell
8 and Kevany?
9 A. Cudworth was there and I don't remember, at
10 that point, who else had left or who was still around.
11 I believe Chitty might have still been there.
12 Q. Did you talk to Chitty?
13 A. I don't believe so, but I think at the point of
14 the interview you're referring to, the people I recall
15 being there was Kevany and Cudworth.
16 Q. Did you talk to Cudworth?
17 A. I believe it was very briefly, but I don't know
18 for sure, is what I said.
19 Q. What about Benson?
20 A. I never talked to Benson.
21 Q. Did you -- you left with Benson, though, right?
22 A. I don't remember Benson being at the scene.
23 Q. At all?
24 A. I don't remember that. Not to say he wasn't.
25 I was -- I had a focused task, that I was there to get
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1 intelligence from Officer Kevany, and that's what I did.
2 I didn't take an inventory of who was all at the scene
3 at the time.
4 Q. You didn't say anything to Benson like, let's
5 leave before we're both in the IA with him?
6 A. I may have said that. I'm just telling you I
7 don't remember it.
8 Q. At the time that you were speaking to Sergeant
9 Amoroso about the Bentley incident, did he tell you that
10 he had had the conversation with Officer Waddell prior
11 to the joke that they were planning to play a prank on
12 you?
13 A. I don't remember talking to Sergeant Amoroso
14 about the Bentley incident.
15 Q. You never had a conversation with him around
16 the time of promotions or discussions on candidates
17 about the suitability of Officer Waddell?
18 A. I don't believe I did. I don't remember that.
19 Q. Who did you talk to?
20 A. I know I talked to Kevany, I know I talked to
21 Waddell, and, at the time, I don't -- before I talked to
22 Lieutenants Smith and Bledsoe, I don't remember talking
23 to anybody else about it.
24 Q. Why did you go to Smith and Bledsoe,
25 specifically?
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1 A. Because they were the lieutenants. One was my
2 lieutenant and the other was the lieutenant over at the
3 Investigations Bureau who would be overseeing the
4 personnel selected where Kevin was applying.
5 Q. What about Lieutenant Proll?
6 A. He was my supervisor.
7 Q. So why didn't you go to him?
8 A. Well, because I, initially, went to Lieutenant
9 Bledsoe.
10 Actually, I don't know if he was my supervisor
11 at the time. Lieutenant Smith was my supervisor at the
12 time at nights.
13 Q. Okay. And so if Smith was your supervisor, you
14 went to him, right?
15 A. I went to Bledsoe first and told him and he
16 said make sure you let your supervisor know what
17 happened.
18 Q. And you went to Bledsoe because...
19 A. Because Kevin was applying for a position where
20 he would be working for Lieutenant Bledsoe.
21 Q. Okay. And Smith because he was your
22 supervisor?
23 A. Correct.
24 Q. What about Waddell's supervisor? Who was he?
25 A. That would have been Sergeant Amoroso at the
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1 time, but for this incident, it would have been Sergeant
2 Goodwin, but she had already -- she wasn't around.
3 Q. What about -- who was Waddell's lieutenant?
4 A. I believe, at the time, it would have been
5 Lieutenant Proll.
6 Q. And you didn't advise him, right?
7 A. No. I gave it to the other lieutenants and let
8 them handle it.
9 Q. And they didn't do anything with the
10 information, is your understanding, right?
11 A. Correct. At the time.
12 Q. Okay. At the time that you begin feeling that
13 there is this problem with Officer Waddell, is this in
14 the summer of 2013?
15 A. I guess, I'm not sure what you're asking.
16 Q. Well, the work ethic or as you're observing his
17 work habits.
18 A. Um --
19 Q. Whatever causes you to bring this information
20 to light.
21 A. I think it's when I went to the lieutenants
22 that I thought, okay, maybe there's an issue here.
23 Q. Right. So is this in the summertime?
24 A. Yeah. Around summer, fall.
25 Q. Okay. And so this was in your mind when the
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1 texting incident happened in October, obviously, right?
2 A. Yes.
3 Q. And you already had, obviously, a lesser
4 opinion of Officer Waddell at this point, correct?
5 A. Yes.
6 Q. When Lieutenant Smith asked you if there could
7 be any kind of miscommunication and for you to think
8 about it and then get back to him, why didn't you do
9 that?
10 A. I don't know what you're talking about,
11 miscommunication.
12 Q. You don't remember that conversation, according
13 to Lieutenant Smith?
14 A. I haven't talked to Lieutenant Smith about this
15 since he asked me to write a memo.
16 Q. Right. I'm talking about according to your
17 interview and his interview. You don't recall that
18 conversation?
19 A. I wasn't present during his interview.
20 Q. I know. I'm saying that information was
21 presented. You don't recall that conversation?
22 A. No.
23 Q. As a supervisor, what would have been the
24 penalty that -- based on your experience, for Officer
25 Waddell for being late to work?
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
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1 MR. PALMER: Well, objection. Speculation.
2 MS. CASTILLO: Based on your experience.
3 THE HEARING OFFICER: I'll allow it if you
4 know.
5 THE WITNESS: I've had a couple people show up
6 late and I wrote them supervisor observations that they
7 were late.
8 BY MS. CASTILLO:
9 Q. And what does that mean?
10 A. They get a notice in their annual file for the
11 purposes of annual evaluations.
12 Q. Are there any days off associated with that?
13 A. Depends on the person.
14 Q. I mean, is there a suspension associated with
15 the supervisor's observation?
16 A. Well, there, absolutely, could be at some
17 point, but the first time somebody ever shows up late,
18 they probably wouldn't get a suspension.
19 Q. Okay. When Lieutenant Proll asked you in the
20 Bentley interview if you understood how important the
21 Bentley interview was in conjunction with the texting
22 interview and you said yes, what was your understanding?
23 A. I thought he was just saying the totality of
24 both incidents combined because it could have a
25 significant impact on Kevin.
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1 Q. And why would that be?
2 A. He was lying and, potentially, stealing parts.
3 Q. So, in your mind, were they being looked at
4 together?
5 A. Well, no. They were being investigated
6 separately, but then --
7 Q. Right.
8 A. -- the punishment for them would, obviously, be
9 considered at the same time, I would guess. I'm not
10 privy to those conversations, but...
11 Q. But was that what you took away from Lieutenant
12 Proll's comment?
13 A. Well, I think my "yes, I understand" was more
14 of a I get that this is a serious series of events, but
15 I can't speak to exactly what he was saying.
16 Q. You said, "I understand."
17 So is -- when he said in conjunction with the
18 other.
19 A. That it's significant and serious.
20 Q. Okay. Did you ever send him those questions
21 that you offered to draft for him?
22 A. Yeah.
23 Q. But you didn't look at your phone bill, right?
24 A. I did.
25 Q. And you were able to get the time of your call?
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1 A. I was able to see that the call had been made,
2 but there was other things I couldn't see, like the time
3 the photo came through.
4 Q. And then you didn't see what was in the photo,
5 right?
6 A. I saw what was in the photo the night it was
7 sent.
8 Q. Right. And what was that, specifically?
9 A. It was the emblem from the car that was on the
10 floorboard of the -- I believe, the driver's floorboard.
11 Q. What do you mean, emblems?
12 A. The Bentley.
13 Q. I know, but what -- like, was it the wheel
14 cover? Was it the back?
15 A. I believe it was the Bentley badge. I don't
16 know -- I just remember seeing the Bentley badge. I
17 don't know if it was on -- I don't know what part it was
18 on.
19 Q. You don't know what it was from?
20 A. It was from the Bentley. I don't know,
21 exactly, what part it was. I couldn't say, no.
22 Q. Okay.
23 A. It was enough that I saw that the intended
24 message was the parts were back, and I understood that.
25 Q. Okay. And how many pieces?
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1 A. I believe there was two.
2 Q. At the point that Officer Waddell told you that
3 he was joking, sorry, remorseful, you believed that he
4 was sincere, correct?
5 A. I did that night, yeah.
6 Q. Okay. Other than you seeing him in the office,
7 watching a movie that one time that you cited to us?
8 A. Two times.
9 Q. Oh, there were two times he watched a movie?
10 A. Uh-huh.
11 Q. When was the other time?
12 A. About two weeks later.
13 Q. Okay. This is the first time I've heard about
14 this. Can you tell us more about it?
15 A. It was the same type of event, walked out, was
16 watching a movie, said he was on his lunch break and
17 that was it.
18 Q. Okay. Tell us the month that this happened
19 now.
20 A. It was, like, two weeks after the first one.
21 Q. Why didn't you mention this in any of the
22 interviews that you gave?
23 A. It wasn't asked in any of the interviews. It
24 wasn't what was being investigated, and I did talk to
25 Lieutenant Smith about it.
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
Administrative Record Page 2544
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1 Q. You did?
2 A. Yes.
3 Q. You talked to both Lieutenant Proll and you
4 talked to the other lieutenant, and, both times, you
5 mentioned a movie? You never said two events where
6 there were movie-watching?
7 A. Is that a question.
8 Q. Yes.
9 A. Okay. I'll agree with you.
10 Q. And you already testified here before.
11 Now you're saying there was another second
12 movie event?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. Did you mention that to Sergeant Amoroso when
15 you told him about the first time you caught him
16 watching a movie?
17 A. No.
18 Q. What movie was it this time?
19 A. I don't recall. The computer was on.
20 Q. And what is he eating this time?
21 A. I don't recall.
22 Q. And what time of day was it this time?
23 A. Around lunchtime.
24 Q. And was it a CAT shift?
25 A. I believe so because it was during the daytime.
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
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1 Q. And did you tell Lieutenant Smith this?
2 A. No. Oh, no. I did tell Lieutenant Smith.
3 Q. Oh, you did?
4 A. I didn't tell anybody else.
5 Q. So Lieutenant Smith would know about the second
6 movie event, too?
7 A. I don't know if he would or not.
8 Q. Well, you told him about it, right?
9 So if I asked him about it, he's going to
10 remember that you actually said, twice, Officer Waddell
11 was watching the movie?
12 MR. PALMER: Objection. Speculative.
13 THE HEARING OFFICER: Yeah. You can ask
14 Lieutenant Smith what he remembers.
15 BY MS. CASTILLO:
16 Q. Okay. And this was two weeks after the first
17 time, right?
18 A. Approximately.
19 Q. Okay. And what month was this?
20 A. I don't know.
21 Q. Didn't document it?
22 A. No.
23 Q. Did you counsel Officer Waddell?
24 A. Um, no.
25 Q. You didn't say anything to him about it?
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1 A. He said he was on his lunch break. Whatever he
2 does on his lunch break is his business.
3 Q. But you, obviously, had a problem with it,
4 right?
5 A. Well, personally, yes, I did.
6 Q. I thought CAT officers were not allowed to have
7 lunch breaks, according to you?
8 A. And that's why I took issue with it.
9 Q. So are they allowed to have lunch breaks or are
10 they not allowed to have lunch breaks?
11 A. I don't believe so. It's a four or five-hour
12 overtime assignment.
13 Q. Okay. Well, you're the supervisor. Are they
14 or are they not? It's, obviously, an issue.
15 A. I would have to go with the earlier, but that's
16 exactly why I didn't make an issue of it.
17 Q. Well, it's formulated your negative opinion of
18 Officer Waddell, which led you to change your mind from
19 a joke to a possible theft, correct?
20 A. Yes.
21 Q. So did you not consult the MOU before you made
22 this negative opinion?
23 A. No.
24 Q. Okay. You also said, when you were interviewed
25 the second time by Lieutenant Proll, that, then, you
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
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1 remembered that there was some conversation between
2 Officer Waddell and the tow truck driver about maybe the
3 tow truck driver could take these parts off and leave
4 them at the side of the road. Do you remember that?
5 A. I do, now that you say that.
6 Q. Why didn't you mention that ever in your memo
7 or in the first interview?
8 A. I didn't remember until you just brought it up.
9 Q. Or until you were interviewed the second time
10 in April?
11 A. I brought it up with Lieutenant Proll. I
12 didn't remember up until that point.
13 Q. You didn't remember until April, a year and
14 some months after it happened?
15 A. Correct.
16 Q. Okay. You didn't think that that was something
17 that you needed to mention in terms of the interview
18 that might need to happen with the tow truck driver or
19 Lieutenant Proll when you were thinking of questions
20 that might be relevant to the investigation?
21 A. Clearly not because I didn't remember it.
22 Q. Well, I know you had offered to assist with
23 Officer Waddell's questions.
24 How did you know when Officer Waddell's
25 interview was?
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1 A. I have no idea. I'm guessing I was told at
2 some point that I was going to be interviewed.
3 Q. No. Officer Waddell's interview.
4 A. I'm guessing, at that point, it came up and
5 somebody said everybody's going to get interviewed. We
6 all knew he was going to get interviewed at some point.
7 THE HEARING OFFICER: We don't want too much
8 guessing here. Which interview are we talking about?
9 MS. CASTILLO: Officer Waddell's.
10 THE HEARING OFFICER: For which event?
11 MS. CASTILLO: This Bentley interview.
12 THE WITNESS: He was on administrative leave
13 and he was going to be back in the building. I don't
14 know how I was told.
15 BY MS. CASTILLO:
16 Q. When you heard the statements that Lieutenant
17 Proll told you about in regards to what Kevany and
18 Cudworth said and you disagreed with some of them, were
19 you shocked with what they said?
20 A. I was surprised with Lieutenant Proll's
21 interpretation of what Officer Kevany had said.
22 Q. And why was that?
23 A. She had been talking to me, and the way he
24 mentioned it in the interview, it made it sound like
25 Officer Kevany was taking responsibility and actually
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1 stole the parts herself or took the parts off herself
2 and that would surprise me because that, absolutely, did
3 not happen.
4 Q. Is that how he relayed it to you, based on your
5 recollection?
6 A. That's how I understood it when he relayed that
7 information.
8 Q. Okay. What is your relationship like with
9 Sergeant Amoroso?
10 A. We talk at work, but not away from work. We
11 don't do things, socially.
12 Q. Are you friends?
13 A. I think of him as a friend, we just don't
14 socialize away from work. I take that back, every once
15 in a while, we do.
16 Q. You go to dinner?
17 A. No. We ride motorcycles. So once in a while,
18 we'll go on a motorcycle ride together.
19 Q. Okay. In your memorandum, you say that you
20 were walking away when you saw the parts being put back,
21 and then in your interview, you said that you were
22 driving away. Which was it?
23 A. I never saw any parts being put back. I saw
24 parts being put in the bag and walked to the FST truck,
25 and that's as I was driving away.
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
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1 Q. In your memo, you said that it was as you were
2 walking away.
3 A. It's not accurate. I was driving away.
4 Q. So it was more accurate when you give your
5 interview after you wrote your memo?
6 A. Yes.
7 Q. Did something refresh your recollection later?
8 A. No. I don't think you're interpreting my memo
9 correctly.
10 Q. You don't think I'm reading your memo
11 correctly?
12 A. If you'd like to pull it out, we can go over it
13 word-by-word and I can tell you what I meant, but I
14 think you're misinterpreting what I wrote because I
15 don't think I wrote that I was walking away and saw him
16 steal car parts.
17 Q. I didn't say that.
18 A. Or put car parts back.
19 Q. At any point, did you ever tell Officer Kevany
20 that Waddell had informed you that he was playing a
21 joke?
22 A. I don't remember if I did or not.
23 Q. Okay.
24 A. I'm sure I probably did because that's what I
25 thought was happening at the time.
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
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1 Q. Did you ever characterize Waddell's actions to
2 Officer Kevany as stealing or intending to steal?
3 A. I don't remember.
4 Q. If you were aware that night that he had
5 informed you it was a joke, you wouldn't have done that,
6 right?
7 A. I don't believe so. We might have talked about
8 how it could be interpreted that way, but I don't
9 recall.
10 Q. So you don't recall having any conversation
11 with Sergeant Amoroso about the Bentley incident?
12 A. I don't.
13 Q. Did you ever talk to Sergeant Amoroso about
14 sergeant candidates?
15 A. I'm sure we probably did. I just don't
16 remember, specifically, talking about the Bentley
17 incident with him. I'm not saying I didn't. I just
18 don't recall doing that.
19 Q. But isn't this stuff -- isn't this Bentley
20 incident the topic that you would bring up to anyone who
21 wanted to hear about Officer Waddell and your opinion of
22 him?
23 A. No. I wouldn't discuss that with just anyone.
24 Q. You wouldn't?
25 A. No.
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
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1 Q. Who would you -- you would only discuss it with
2 the two lieutenants, Smith and Bledsoe?
3 A. No. I probably would talk to Sergeant Amoroso
4 about it, I just don't remember that. You said so you
5 talked to anybody and I wanted to clarify I don't just
6 go around talking to all the officers about Officer
7 Waddell's issues.
8 Q. Okay. So other than you may have -- you --
9 okay. So are you saying you -- well, besides the two
10 lieutenants that you have mentioned, who else would you
11 have talked to about the Bentley incident with?
12 A. I don't know. I remember talking to the people
13 I've already mentioned. I can't say for sure that I did
14 or did not talk to Sergeant Amoroso.
15 Q. Okay. And then who else would you have
16 discussed sergeant candidates with?
17 A. I never discuss sergeant candidates with
18 anybody because I was one of those candidates. I wasn't
19 having conversations like that.
20 Q. Okay. But you did have that discussion. So --
21 A. I just told you I don't recall having that
22 discussion.
23 Q. Okay. You had it with those two people, right?
24 A. Lieutenants Smith and Bledsoe.
25 Q. Okay. So it wasn't like a group conversation,
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1 right?
2 A. Correct.
3 Q. That's all I was asking.
4 You also mentioned this to Captain Staley?
5 A. Mentioned what?
6 Q. The Bentley incident.
7 A. I'm sure, at some point, we talked about it. I
8 don't recall having a conversation, specifically, to the
9 Bentley incident, though.
10 Q. And then you did talk to Captain Storton,
11 right?
12 A. Yes.
13 Q. Okay. And what did you tell Captain Storton?
14 A. I'm not -- I guess I'm not sure what you're
15 asking.
16 Q. Well, about your impressions.
17 He ultimately asked you to write a memo,
18 right?
19 A. Correct.
20 Q. So what did you tell him?
21 A. I told him about what happened.
22 Q. Is it exactly the same as what's written in
23 your memo?
24 A. That's very, very -- I can't say verbatim what
25 I told him a year ago, but it's very in line with what's
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1 in the memo.
2 Q. And were you asked to go to Captain Storton?
3 A. Captain Storton called me into his office, yes.
4 Q. And was that based on something you had told
5 the lieutenants or did you go there, yourself?
6 A. I don't know why he called me there. I mean, I
7 don't know what caused him to call me there. I know
8 what he wanted once I got there.
9 Q. Right.
10 MS. CASTILLO: Can we have a five-minute
11 break?
12 THE HEARING OFFICER: Okay. Let's take five
13 minutes. Please don't discuss your testimony with
14 anybody.
15 (Recess.)
16 THE HEARING OFFICER: Okay. So we're back on
17 the record with the direct of Sergeant Pfarr.
18 BY MS. CASTILLO:
19 Q. Okay. Appellant's Exhibit A is your memo.
20 This is the one you just reviewed, right, the December
21 one?
22 A. Yes.
23 Q. Okay. So I had asked you the question about
24 leaving and seeing the car parts -- Officer Waddell with
25 the car parts. Did you remember that?
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1 A. Yes.
2 Q. And that was the conversation where, were you
3 walking, were you driving, right?
4 A. Yes.
5 Q. And I believe that's covered in your bottom
6 paragraph onto, maybe, the next page. Do you want to
7 refresh your recollection as to what you wrote in your
8 memo?
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. Okay.
11 A. What was your question?
12 Q. What did you write in December 20th, happened?
13 A. "I walked to my car and started to leave the
14 scene."
15 So what I meant by that is, as I was leaving
16 the scene, I saw him take those parts.
17 Q. Okay. And then what happened?
18 A. I drove away.
19 Q. Okay. And after you drove away is when you
20 believe he put the car parts back, correct?
21 A. Well, it would have had to have been after I
22 left because as I was leaving, he was walking to the FST
23 truck.
24 Q. Okay. Now, you write this in December, right?
25 A. Correct.
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
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1 Q. And you have a conversation with Captain
2 Storton. Did you ever read his memo?
3 A. Captain Storton's memo?
4 Q. Yes.
5 A. I didn't know Captain Storton prepared a memo.
6 Q. After his conversation with you, you never read
7 it?
8 A. No.
9 Q. Okay. He wrote a memo in February of 2014 to
10 Lieutenant Proll on this topic after speaking with you
11 in December of 2013 that said you came to his office and
12 discussed this encounter that you had with Officer
13 Waddell.
14 So is this when you said that he called you to
15 talk to him? This would have been that one?
16 A. Yes. I only went to his office once to discuss
17 this.
18 Q. Okay. And he says that, according to you, you
19 approached him to question him about the emblem. Is
20 that a misstatement?
21 MR. PALMER: Are we looking at an exhibit?
22 MS. CASTILLO: No. Well, I guess, yes because
23 if you look at Appellant's Y, one of the drafts had this
24 and that was redacted out. We can figure out which one
25 it was. Okay. It would be --
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1 THE HEARING OFFICER: Y- A?
2 MS. CASTILLO: Was it Y- A? Yeah, it's Y- A,
3 Exhibit 3, attached below.
4 THE HEARING OFFICER: There's an Exhibit 3 to
5 Y- A?
6 MS. CASTILLO: Yes.
7 THE HEARING OFFICER: Okay. Yeah. I'll just
8 note for the record the pages don't appear to be
9 numbered on this draft, but a few pages from the end,
10 there's something marked Exhibit Number 3.
11 BY MS. CASTILLO:
12 Q. You can follow along, if you want.
13 A. Where would you like me to go?
14 Q. It's Y- A, Exhibit 3.
15 MR. PALMER: Last three pages.
16 THE HEARING OFFICER: This is Y- A.
17 THE WITNESS: Okay. Exhibit 3, dated August 7,
18 2015?
19 BY MS. CASTILLO:
20 Q. Right.
21 A. You're looking at February 27th and I'm looking
22 at one August 7th.
23 Q. Yeah. That was interlineated by who knows who.
24 February 24th, 2014, the one I --
25 THE HEARING OFFICER: Well, I'll just observe,
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1 for the record, that there appears to be a glitch on
2 here because the interlineated date says August 7, 2015.
3 That was just a couple weeks ago. So that couldn't be
4 right. The date that's marked out is March 24, 2014,
5 which, presumably, is closer to events.
6 BY MS. CASTILLO:
7 Q. Yeah. Who knows? Okay. The copy I have says
8 February 27th. We'll figure it out.
9 Okay. Third paragraph. " Sergeant Pfarr
10 approached Officer Waddell to question him about the
11 emblem." Is that a misstatement?
12 MR. PALMER: Well, I would object. I don't
13 know that this witness is qualified to talk about a memo
14 that wasn't authored by him.
15 BY MS. CASTILLO:
16 Q. Well, I'm asking because he said -- according
17 to Captain Storton's memo, he had a conversation with
18 you and documented it.
19 A. I am not aware of anything that he documented.
20 Q. Okay.
21 A. I'm aware I had a conversation with him in his
22 office.
23 Q. Okay. But I'm going to ask you about that
24 conversation. All right?
25 A. Okay.
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1 Q. Did you ever approach Officer Waddell to
2 question him about the emblem?
3 A. Well, I told him to meet me in my office.
4 Q. Okay. This is -- read the whole paragraph and
5 then let me know if it -- this is at the scene. So I'm
6 going to set the tone for you.
7 MR. PALMER: Well, I object to that. The
8 premise is not really clear that it's at the scene.
9 MS. CASTILLO: How about read the whole
10 document and let me know if you understand what the
11 premise is.
12 THE HEARING OFFICER: All right. So read the
13 document. I'm going to allow questions to be asked
14 about what happened or not. The fact that it happens to
15 be in this memo, I don't think that makes any
16 difference, one way or the other, but I don't assume
17 that the witness knows anything about the actual
18 document.
19 MS. CASTILLO: Well, that's okay. I'll recall
20 Captain Storton, anyways.
21 THE WITNESS: Okay.
22 BY MS. CASTILLO:
23 Q. Okay. You did have a conversation with Captain
24 Storton, correct?
25 A. Yes.
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1 Q. Does this memorandum accurately reflect your
2 conversation with Captain Storton?
3 A. It does not.
4 Q. And that is because this says that you had a
5 conversation with Officer Waddell at the scene?
6 A. Correct.
7 Q. Okay. And this says that you thought he must
8 be kidding at the scene?
9 A. That was correct.
10 Q. Okay. And this is because you -- it says that
11 you told him to put the emblem back and then left the
12 scene, right?
13 A. I don't know what you just asked.
14 Q. This says you told Officer Waddell to put the
15 emblem back and left the scene, right? And that is
16 inaccurate?
17 A. That is inaccurate. I didn't say that right
18 then.
19 Q. The date on Page 2 where it says you were so
20 concerned that you later went to Lieutenant Bledsoe and
21 Lieutenant Smith, subbed him around September 2013, is
22 that accurate as to the time, 2013 of September?
23 A. About his September 2013 about the time I went
24 to Lieutenant Bledsoe and Smith? Is that what you're
25 asking?
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1 Q. Yes.
2 A. I believe it was about the time.
3 Q. Okay.
4 A. It was whenever those detective assignments
5 were becoming -- the orals were.
6 Q. I only have a couple more.
7 Regarding your conversation with Lieutenant
8 Smith about Sergeant Pfarr --
9 A. About who?
10 Q. Sorry. I'm looking at your memorandum.
11 You wrote a memorandum to Lieutenant Smith in
12 October, right?
13 A. Correct.
14 Q. So the month before when you were so concerned
15 about this Bentley issue, the month after is when you
16 went and had the texting issue with Officer Waddell,
17 right?
18 A. Correct.
19 Q. Okay. At the time that you reported the
20 Bentley issue to the two lieutenants, did they indicate
21 that they were going to do anything about the Bentley
22 issue, to you?
23 A. They did not, one way or another.
24 Q. Okay.
25 THE HEARING OFFICER: Do we have a new
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1 document?
2 MS. CASTILLO: We do. It's this, but I don't
3 know if you want to -- are you going to make me call
4 Storton?
5 MR. PALMER: I'm not going to make you do a
6 dang thing other than what you want to do.
7 MS. CASTILLO: I'm just asking if you're not
8 going to. Are you going to?
9 MR. PALMER: I don't plan to call Captain
10 Storton at this point.
11 MS. CASTILLO: I'm going to ask that this be
12 admitted, unless you are going to object. I'm not,
13 necessarily, going to call him again. I'll have it
14 marked as --
15 THE HEARING OFFICER: If you want to offer it,
16 you should offer it.
17 MS. CASTILLO: I don't even know what number
18 we're on, or letter.
19 THE HEARING OFFICER: We're up to CC.
20 Appellant's CC is the next sequence.
21 MS. CASTILLO: This is out of the packet, IA
22 packet.
23 MR. PALMER: Okay.
24 MS. CASTILLO: That's why the date is
25 different, I guess.
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1 MR. PALMER: It's not already an exhibit?
2 MS. CASTILLO: Not in your book. Appellant's
3 CC.
4 THE HEARING OFFICER: So we're marking, as
5 Appellant's CC, a memorandum dated February 27, 2014, to
6 Lieutenant Proll from Captain Storton and the subject
7 says Waddell investigation.
8 BY MS. CASTILLO:
9 Q. Okay. During your conversation with Lieutenant
10 Smith, did you both decide that you needed to
11 immediately address the issue with Officer Waddell or
12 was there some discussion that there would be a time
13 period to think about what had occurred and whether or
14 not there was a miscommunication?
15 A. No. I was told to immediately address it.
16 Q. And what did -- what -- what did that entail?
17 A. Let him know that Lieutenant Smith was going to
18 be contacting him at some point in the near future and
19 that -- basically, that we knew he had lied.
20 Q. And how did you know that he had lied? Was
21 that because the two of you had had a discussion
22 together about what Waddell had told you?
23 A. Correct.
24 Q. Okay. So you relayed what Waddell had told you
25 to Lieutenant Smith?
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1 A. Yes.
2 Q. Did Lieutenant Smith ever talk to Officer
3 Waddell?
4 A. I don't know.
5 Q. But not that you're aware of, correct?
6 A. I have no idea, one way or another.
7 Q. Okay. When Officer Waddell called you, was it
8 his request to come to the sergeant's office to speak to
9 you?
10 A. I'm sorry. When Waddell called me, did he
11 request to come to the sergeant's office?
12 Q. Yeah.
13 A. No. I called him and told him to come to the
14 sergeant's office.
15 Q. And what was the purpose in that?
16 A. Are you talking about after I'd already talked
17 to Lieutenant Smith and discovered that there was a lie?
18 Q. I'm talking about when you asked Officer
19 Waddell to come in and speak with you.
20 MR. PALMER: Objection. Vague as to time.
21 BY MS. CASTILLO:
22 Q. Well, were there two times that you asked him
23 to come and speak to you?
24 A. I texted him and asked him to stop by when he
25 got to work so I could discuss what happened and he came
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1 to the office and told me that he talked to Lieutenant
2 Smith and Lieutenant Smith gave him permission to come
3 in late and then I called him again after my
4 conversation with Lieutenant Smith and said come to the
5 office because we need to talk.
6 Q. Okay. When he said that he had been given
7 permission to come in late, what were his exact words?
8 A. He -- I'm going to paraphrase.
9 Q. No. I need his exact words.
10 A. I don't recall his exact verbatim words.
11 THE HEARING OFFICER: Then that's your
12 testimony.
13 BY MS. CASTILLO:
14 Q. Did you document them at the time, after?
15 A. I immediately wrote my memo within minutes.
16 Q. Okay. So you wrote your memo within minutes.
17 There are no quotes attributed to Officer
18 Waddell in your memorandum. Do you need to look at --
19 A. Because I attached the photographs of the text
20 messages that he sent me.
21 Q. Okay. I understand what the text messages say,
22 but you had a conversation with Officer Waddell,
23 correct?
24 A. Correct.
25 Q. To clarify what the text messages meant, right?
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1 A. Correct. No, no, not to clarify what the text
2 messages meant. That is not true.
3 Q. Oh, you didn't?
4 A. I called him back and said Lieutenant Smith
5 told me you didn't have this conversation, he will be in
6 touch with you.
7 Q. Okay. So the text messages speak for
8 themselves, is your position?
9 A. As far as I know, yes.
10 Q. Okay. And when you spoke with Officer Waddell
11 in the office, there was no further communication about
12 what the text messages meant or any of the
13 communications between Officer Waddell and Lieutenant
14 Smith, right?
15 A. He started to apologize and I cut him off.
16 Q. And when he was apologizing, what did he say,
17 specifically, since you wrote your memo right away?
18 A. He said something to the effect of I didn't
19 mean to -- something along those lines.
20 Q. You wrote, "Sorry. I thought he and I talked
21 about it. I didn't mean to," and then it stops and
22 that's where you cut him off?
23 A. Yes.
24 Q. You didn't let him finish the sentence?
25 A. No.
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1 Q. You didn't let him explain what he was getting
2 at, at all?
3 A. No. Correct. I was trying to protect him.
4 There was going to be a time and a place for him to give
5 an explanation as to what he did.
6 Q. Okay. But you had already decided that you did
7 not want to hear the explanation and it was a lie at
8 this point?
9 MR. PALMER: Objection. Mischaracterizes his
10 testimony.
11 MS. CASTILLO: I'm asking if that's what his
12 decision was.
13 THE HEARING OFFICER: I'll allow it.
14 THE WITNESS: In my opinion, at that point, he
15 had lied, which was serious, and I didn't want him to
16 say something silly at the time, trying to dig himself
17 out of a hole.
18 BY MS. CASTILLO:
19 Q. Did he ask you to have a conference call with
20 him and Lieutenant Smith?
21 A. I don't know. He may have, but I don't
22 remember that.
23 Q. He may have, but you don't remember that.
24 Okay. You didn't write that --
25 A. I'm not going to say no because I don't
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1 remember him asking for a conference call.
2 Q. Well, okay. Did you accuse him of lying, at
3 all, during this conversation?
4 A. I don't know if I said you're lying, but that
5 was what was implied when I talked to him, if I didn't
6 flat-out say you lied.
7 Q. You said, "I told Officer Waddell you never had
8 the conversation he told me about and I informed him I
9 was documenting the incident. Officer Waddell told me
10 I'm sorry, I thought he and I talked about it, I didn't
11 mean to," and you cut him off. You would not let him
12 make any further statements?
13 THE HEARING OFFICER: We already established
14 that.
15 BY MS. CASTILLO:
16 Q. So, at this point, your decision's already made
17 up, right?
18 THE HEARING OFFICER: The witness hasn't
19 testified he made any decisions. I don't think he's the
20 decision-maker.
21 BY MS. CASTILLO:
22 Q. Did you have any opinion at this point?
23 A. My opinion was he had lied.
24 THE HEARING OFFICER: I want to note it's just
25 about 5:00. Do we think we can finish up with this
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1 witness?
2 MS. CASTILLO: I don't want to commit to that.
3 So I'll say, since he has to come back for cross,
4 anyway...
5 THE HEARING OFFICER: Let's go off the record
6 for a second.
7 (Discussion off the record.)
8 THE HEARING OFFICER: So it's about 5:00.
9 We've reached the point where we think we're going to
10 take a recess and we'll resume at our next hearing on
11 September 2 with the direct examination of Sergeant
12 Pfarr by the appellant.
13 I'll ask Sergeant Pfarr, to remind you that
14 you're still under oath and you're still admonished not
15 to discuss your testimony with anybody.
16 THE WITNESS: Yes, sir.
17 THE HEARING OFFICER: And thank you very much,
18 and we'll see you next time.
19 THE WITNESS: Thank you.
20 (The proceedings adjourned at 4:58 p.m.)
21
22
23
24
25
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1 REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE
2 STATE OF CALIFORNIA) SS.
3
4 I, MELISSA PLOOY, Certified Shorthand Reporter,
5 licensed in the State of California, holding CSR License
6 No. 13068, do hereby certify:
7 That said proceeding was verbatim-reported by me by
8 the use of computer shorthand at the time and place
9 therein stated and thereafter transcribed into writing
10 under my direction.
11 I further certify that I am not of counsel nor
12 attorney for or related to the parties hereto, nor am I
13 in any way interested in the outcome of this action.
14 In compliance with Section 8016 of the Business and
15 Professions Code, I certify under penalty of perjury
16 that I am a Certified Shorthand Reporter with License
17 No. 13068 in full force and effect.
18 WITNESS my hand this ____________ day of
19 _____________, ________.
20 __________________________________
MELISSA PLOOY, CSR#13068
21
22
23
24
25
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
Administrative Record Page 2571
BEFORE THE CITY COUNCIL
OF THE CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO
In the Matter of the Appeal )
of the Dismissal of )
OFFICER KEVIN WADDELL, )
Appellant, )
and )
CSMCS Case No. ARB-14-0209
POLICE DEPARTMENT OF THE )
CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO, ) VOLUME VIII
PAGES 1475- 1545
Hiring Authority. )
TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS
SAN LUIS OBISPO, CALIFORNIA
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2015
9:06 A.M. - 11: 43 A.M.
REPORTED BY MELISSA PLOOY, CSR #13068
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1 THE TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS WAS TAKEN AT THE
2 CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO CITY COUNCIL, 990 PALM STREET,
3 CONFERENCE ROOM, SAN LUIS OBISPO, CALIFORNIA, BEFORE
4 MELISSA PLOOY, A CERTIFIED SHORTHAND REPORTER IN AND FOR
5 THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA, ON WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2,
6 2015, COMMENCING AT THE HOUR OF 9:06 A.M.
7
8 APPEARANCES OF COUNSEL
9 HEARING OFFICER:
10 SOUTHWESTERN LAW SCHOOL
BY: CHRISTOPHER DAVID RUIZ CAMERON
11 PROFESSOR OF LAW
3050 WILSHIRE BOULEVARD
12 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90010
213) 738-6749
13 CCAMERON@SWLAW.EDU
14 FOR THE APPELLANT:
15 CASTILLO HARPER, APC
BY: KASEY A. CASTILLO, ESQ.
16 3333 CONCOURS STREET
BUILDING 4, SUITE 4100
17 ONTARIO, CALIFORNIA 91764
909) 466-5600
18 KASEY@CASTILLOHARPER.COM
19 FOR THE HIRING AUTHORITY:
20 JONES & MAYER
BY: GREGORY P. PALMER, ESQ.
21 3777 NORTH HARBOR BOULEVARD
FULLERTON, CALIFORNIA 92835
22 (714) 446-1400
GPP@JONES-MAYER.COM
23
24 ALSO PRESENT: LAURA WADDELL, CAPTAIN CHRIS STALEY,
CHRISTINE DIETRICK
25
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1 I N D E X
2 WITNESS DIRECT CROSS REDIRECT RECROSS
3 SERGEANT CHAD PFARR 1479 1521 1527
4
5 I N D E X T O E X H I B I T S
6 APPELLANT'S MARKED ADMITTED
7 EXHIBIT DD 1540
8 EXHIBIT EE 1541
9 EXHIBIT FF 1543
10 EXHIBIT GG 1543
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14
15
16
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1 THE HEARING OFFICER: We're on the record.
2 It's 9:06 a.m. It's Wednesday, September 2nd, 2015.
3 We're here for day number eight in the appeal of Officer
4 Kevin Waddell and we're back in the main hearing room at
5 City Hall at 990 Palm Street.
6 I'm Chris Cameron. I'm the hearing officer in
7 this matter, and let's get the appearances of counsel,
8 first of all, on behalf of the department.
9 MR. PALMER: Greg Palmer.
10 THE HEARING OFFICER: Very good. I see you're
11 accompanied by city attorney, as well?
12 MS. DIETRICK: Christine Dietrick.
13 THE HEARING OFFICER: Thank you. And Captain
14 Staley is with you?
15 CAPTAIN STALEY: Correct.
16 THE HEARING OFFICER: And then on behalf of the
17 appellant.
18 MS. CASTILLO: Kasey Castillo, and the
19 appellant, Kevin Waddell, is present, along with his
20 wife, Laura Waddell.
21 THE HEARING OFFICER: Good morning.
22 MS. WADDELL: Good morning.
23 THE HEARING OFFICER: Very good. We are
24 continuing with the direct examination of Sergeant
25 Pfarr, who has been called by the appellant. We took
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1 care of one matter of preliminary business, which is
2 that a couple of folks have to leave by noon. So we're
3 going to get as far as we can with his direct and then
4 we'll break at noon.
5 Ms. Castillo, you had the floor. You may
6 resume.
7 MS. CASTILLO: Thank you.
8
9 DIRECT EXAMINATION
10 BY MS. CASTILLO:
11 Q. Good morning.
12 A. Good morning.
13 Q. The last time we talked -- or the last time you
14 were testifying, I believe that we were speaking about
15 the texting IA.
16 Do you remember that, where the incident that
17 occurred on the 19th of October?
18 A. I'm familiar with the incident. I don't know
19 which part you're talking about, though. I don't
20 remember where we left off.
21 Q. Okay. Fair enough. So I want to ask you
22 questions about that today. Okay?
23 A. Okay.
24 Q. At what point were you uncertain who Detective
25 Stahnke's partner for the CAT shift was on the 19th?
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1 A. I wasn't uncertain. There was some time where
2 I questioned whether I had the information right, but I
3 believed it was Kevin.
4 Q. And that was based on what?
5 A. My earlier conversation with Detective Stahnke
6 the day before.
7 Q. So that would have been on the 18th, then.
8 Do you remember if that was in the morning or
9 the afternoon?
10 A. It was around 5:15 in the evening.
11 Q. I'm sorry. In the evening? Is that what you
12 said?
13 A. When I talked to Detective Stahnke.
14 Q. And was that as part -- was that part of
15 another CAT shift?
16 A. No. He was detective. He was leaving home --
17 leaving to go home and I said have a good weekend and he
18 said I'll be back in, working CAT overtime with Kevin
19 tomorrow.
20 Q. Okay. I want to go through the conversation
21 that you had with Officer Waddell the morning of the
22 19th.
23 What is it that you recall, specifically, that
24 he said to you in regards to why he was late?
25 A. Are you talking about via the text?
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1 Q. I'm talking about what he said to you.
2 A. It was just, all our conversation that day, the
3 reason he was late is because he wanted to attend his
4 daughter's dance function, whatever it was. I don't
5 recall if it was a recital or a practice.
6 Q. Okay. And when did this conversation occur?
7 A. It started on the text message, and then when
8 he arrived in the office after I asked him to come in,
9 he repeated the same thing.
10 Q. Okay. And, approximately, what time was that
11 conversation in the office?
12 A. About 11: 20, 11: 30, somewhere around there.
13 Q. Okay.
14 A. No. It was later than that because he didn't
15 show up at 11: 30. So it was closer to 11: 40, 11: 50,
16 somewhere in that general area.
17 Q. Okay. And other than the reason, what else did
18 he say to you during that conversation?
19 A. That he had talked with Lieutenant Smith the
20 night before in the locker room and made arrangements to
21 come in late.
22 Q. And by making arrangements, what were the
23 specific arrangements?
24 A. What I had said, that he was going to go to a
25 dance event with his daughter and wanted to come in
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1 late. I'm not sure what else you're looking for.
2 Q. Okay. No, no. In terms of making
3 arrangements, you said why he wanted to come in late.
4 Are you saying that he told Lieutenant Smith
5 that?
6 A. Yes.
7 Q. Okay.
8 A. That's what he told me he told Lieutenant
9 Smith.
10 Q. So your testimony is that, in this conversation
11 that you had in the office with Officer Waddell, he told
12 you that the day before, that he spoke with Lieutenant
13 Smith in the locker room and that he had made
14 arrangements with him, that he had wanted to go to this
15 dance recital or practice, or whatever, specifically?
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. And by making arrangements, other than what he
18 wanted to be late for, did he make arrangements for
19 coverage? Did he make arrangements in terms of flexing
20 his time? What do you mean by making arrangements?
21 A. I meant he had a conversation with Lieutenant
22 Smith, according to him.
23 Q. And last time we spoke, I asked you, I don't
24 know if you remember this or not, if you could remember
25 any of the specific verbiage because, in your memo, you
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1 didn't attribute any direct quotes to Officer Waddell.
2 Do you remember that line of questioning?
3 A. I remember -- are you talking about the excuse
4 for coming in late and wanting to apologize where I cut
5 him off?
6 Q. No. I'm talking about when I asked you,
7 specifically, what words Officer Waddell had used when
8 he communicated to you what the conversation was with
9 Lieutenant Smith, if you recalled anything specific
10 because you didn't attribute any direct quotes to
11 Officer Waddell.
12 A. I attached the text message conversation to the
13 memo as his attribute -- to attribute whatever words he
14 said so it wouldn't be messed up in translation or
15 anything like that.
16 Q. Okay. So other than the text messages,
17 everything else was paraphrased, right?
18 A. Yes. It was a recount of the text message
19 conversation.
20 Q. Okay. When you spoke with Lieutenant Smith on
21 the telephone, what information did you give him after a
22 conversation with Officer Waddell?
23 A. Just that I didn't need to talk to him anymore,
24 that the problem had been worked out, he said what are
25 you talking about, I said nevermind, Kevin talked to you
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1 and made arrangements to come in late, and Lieutenant
2 Smith said, no, he didn't.
3 Q. Okay. And then --
4 A. Then he told me to call Kevin in and let him
5 know that he had been caught, or however you want to say
6 that, that there was an issue and that he would be
7 talking to him soon.
8 Q. He, as in Lieutenant Smith, would be talking to
9 him soon?
10 A. Correct.
11 Q. And is this the point where he ordered you to
12 write the memo about the incident?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. When Officer Waddell arrived in your office in
15 response to your request, was that because you called
16 him over the radio?
17 A. Yes. I believe I called him over the radio.
18 Q. Okay. And, I believe, in your -- in your
19 interview with Lieutenant Bledsoe, you had indicated
20 that Officer Waddell would have heard the tone in your
21 voice that you were angry with him?
22 A. No. I said he would not have heard the tone of
23 my voice on the radio.
24 Q. Because you were calm at that point?
25 A. No, I wasn't calm. I was quite upset, but I
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1 don't make it the business of everybody in the
2 department to hear me get upset with an officer over the
3 radio.
4 Q. Okay. At the point that he walked into your
5 office, by your testimony, you were quite upset, and, in
6 your mind, there was no possibility of miscommunication,
7 right?
8 A. I, personally, didn't believe there was
9 miscommunication.
10 Q. What was the point of calling him into the
11 office if you were not going to listen to an
12 explanation, other than to tell him you were upset?
13 A. That was my only point, to tell him that --
14 Q. Just to say that you were angry?
15 A. No. To let him know that the gig's up, so to
16 speak, don't say anything else silly, don't talk, don't
17 try to dig yourself out of it, there's an appropriate
18 time and place to do that, and trying to dig yourself
19 out of a hole right now might not be the best idea for
20 you, is what my thoughts were in telling him no.
21 Q. And he was not ordered to write a memo at that
22 point, though, right?
23 A. No.
24 Q. Did you tell him, at that point, that you
25 believed he was a liar?
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1 A. I said I talked to Lieutenant Smith and you
2 didn't have that conversation with him in the locker
3 room, something to that effect. That was the message
4 that was conveyed to Kevin.
5 Q. As in you're dishonest?
6 A. I didn't say you're dishonest, no.
7 Q. What were you inferring then?
8 A. Oh, that he had lied. That was the inference,
9 absolutely.
10 Q. And what was Officer Waddell's reaction to your
11 inference?
12 A. Just same as we talked about last time. He was
13 trying to start talking, said something like, what I
14 meant to say was, or what I meant to -- and that's when
15 I cut him off.
16 Q. Did he ask you to call Lieutenant Smith right
17 then so that the three of you could have a conference
18 call and clear it up?
19 A. I don't remember that coming up.
20 Q. And if he did make that request, what would
21 have been your response?
22 A. I probably would have said no.
23 Q. Why?
24 A. Because it was Lieutenant Smith's day off and
25 he was supposed to be off, with Detective Stahnke
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1 working.
2 Q. Well, you called him on his day off, right?
3 A. That was for very different circumstances.
4 Q. It was the same circumstance, wasn't it?
5 A. No. It was to find out if the scheduling had
6 been messed up, but it wasn't to argue on the phone
7 whether he lied or not. That wasn't my place. That's
8 not what I was there to do.
9 Q. So you would have denied him the opportunity to
10 squash the incident right there?
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. Right after Officer Waddell left your office,
13 did you begin typing your memo?
14 A. Yes.
15 Q. And how long did it take you to complete?
16 A. I don't remember.
17 Q. City's 9 is your memo.
18 A. Okay.
19 Q. It appears to be a two-page document?
20 A. Yes. Not counting the text message
21 conversation.
22 Q. Right. Well, you didn't text those, right?
23 A. No.
24 Q. And you didn't do any other investigation,
25 right, into this memo?
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1 A. I guess, I don't know what you're asking.
2 Q. Well, your memo is just what you heard what
3 just happened, nothing else, right?
4 A. Correct.
5 Q. Okay. How long -- after looking at this
6 two-page document, does it refresh your memory as to how
7 long it would have taken you to write this?
8 A. No. I don't recall how -- I don't know.
9 Q. More than ten minutes?
10 A. I would guess.
11 Q. Do you know -- it's dated the 19th. Did you
12 submit it the same date?
13 A. I put it on Lieutenant Smith's desk the same
14 day. He didn't get it until the following Monday or
15 Tuesday, whenever he was back to work.
16 Q. Looking at the second paragraph, and it says on
17 10/ 12/ 13. Is that a typo?
18 A. No.
19 Q. So what happened on 10/ 12?
20 A. That was when he was late to work the first
21 time.
22 Q. Okay. So the 10/ 12 late shift recount starts
23 on the second paragraph and goes, roughly, down this
24 page.
25 Your conversation with Officer Waddell doesn't
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1 start till, roughly, the second page, right?
2 A. The last paragraph of the first page.
3 Q. Okay. Prior to the 19th, had you documented
4 anything about the 12th?
5 A. No.
6 Q. Okay. So the 12th was the first time that he
7 was late, is what you're saying?
8 A. Well, of what's documented in this memo, yes.
9 Q. Okay. Is there documentation somewhere else
10 about lateness?
11 A. I don't know.
12 Q. Well, from you.
13 A. Not from me.
14 Q. Well, you said first. So --
15 A. I'm sure we've all been late before. I know
16 I've been late before, but we're talking about these two
17 incidents, right?
18 Q. Well --
19 A. I don't want to testify that Kevin's never been
20 late to work before because I don't know that. It's
21 been a long time.
22 Q. So when you were interviewed by the
23 investigator on this matter and you were presented with
24 the text messages, those text messages were never
25 actually explained to you in person by Officer Waddell,
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1 right?
2 A. No.
3 Q. Do you have an iPhone?
4 A. I do.
5 Q. Do you have auto correct in your iPhone?
6 A. Yes.
7 Q. Have you ever experienced when auto correct has
8 changed your intended words --
9 A. A word, yes.
10 Q. -- to something else?
11 A. A word, yes.
12 Q. A word or a phrase?
13 A. I've never had an entire text message be
14 changed from what it was meant to be to something else,
15 no.
16 Q. Well, what --
17 A. But I've had words be changed.
18 Q. Words.
19 Generally speaking, is it your practice to have
20 perfect punctuation in text messages?
21 A. It depends on who I'm talking to.
22 Q. Can I have you look at Department's 10?
23 A. Okay.
24 Q. These are the text messages that you took a
25 screen shot of?
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1 A. Correct.
2 Q. So the time at the top says 12: 14 p.m. Do you
3 see that?
4 THE HEARING OFFICER: Which page are we looking
5 at? Page 2?
6 MS. CASTILLO: Department's Exhibit 10.
7 THE HEARING OFFICER: Page 2 or Page 1, or does
8 it matter?
9 MS. CASTILLO: The first page.
10 THE HEARING OFFICER: Oh, you're not talking
11 about the time of the message, you're talking about
12 what's at the top where it says AT&T?
13 MS. CASTILLO: Correct.
14 THE HEARING OFFICER: Okay.
15 THE WITNESS: Yes.
16 BY MS. CASTILLO:
17 Q. Okay. And so you took a screen shot of this,
18 and then what? E-mailed it to yourself?
19 A. Correct.
20 Q. As Exhibit A to your memo, right?
21 A. Correct.
22 Q. So would 12: 14 p.m. be about the time you were
23 writing your memo?
24 A. That's the time I took the screen shot.
25 Q. My question was, is that about the time you
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1 were preparing your memo or is that --
2 A. It would be, roughly, that time.
3 Q. Okay. So I see in City's 9, which is your
4 memo, you don't go into the content of the text message
5 because the text message speaks for itself; is that --
6 that's what you've testified to, right?
7 A. Yes.
8 Q. Okay. You write in the fourth paragraph of
9 your memo that, approximately, 11: 05 hours, you went to
10 find Officer Waddell and you could not.
11 You, also, were unable to locate his car in the
12 parking lot, right?
13 A. Correct.
14 Q. Okay. And that's because the shift started at
15 11: 00, right?
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. Okay. And this is where you were looking for
18 him in the hallway, right, or in the locker room? Where
19 were you looking for him?
20 A. Yes. I walked down the hallway to check the
21 schedule and he wasn't there.
22 Q. Okay. So you walked down the hallway, checked
23 the schedule and he wasn't there.
24 Did you go look for his car in the parking lot
25 before you found Detective Stahnke, or after?
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1 A. I don't remember.
2 Q. Okay.
3 A. You can look out the window right next to my
4 office and you can see out there. So it's not like I
5 went out to the parking lot and scoured the big, huge
6 parking lot. So I'm not sure if it was right before or
7 after I talked to Stahnke.
8 Q. Okay. Got you.
9 Is your memo written chronologically, do you
10 think?
11 A. Yeah.
12 Q. Okay. All right. Now, Detective Stahnke, on
13 Page 2 of your memo, says that he had received a text
14 from Officer Waddell, advising he was going to be 30
15 minutes late, right?
16 A. Correct.
17 Q. Did you ever see that text message?
18 A. No.
19 Q. Did you ever ask what time that text was sent?
20 A. No.
21 Q. Do you have any idea what time that text was
22 sent?
23 A. No.
24 Q. Do you know if that text message was sent the
25 day before, on the 18th?
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1 A. I don't know.
2 Q. Okay. And then you have your conversation with
3 Officer Waddell at 11: 40 in your office, right?
4 A. Yes.
5 Q. Why do you know it's 11: 40 at that point?
6 A. Because that's when he got to work and just the
7 chron -- the chronology of how everything happened. I
8 mean, it may have been two minutes before, two minutes
9 after.
10 Q. Okay. So -- now -- okay. When you had the --
11 I'm sorry.
12 Okay. Were you -- you had indicated that you
13 were planning on discussing Officer Waddell's tardiness
14 from the 12th on the 19th already, right?
15 A. Correct. I was going to.
16 Q. And was that because you were instructed to do
17 so?
18 A. I had a conversation with Lieutenant Smith
19 about it where I informed him I was going to -- we
20 talked about it and, at the end of the meeting, I told
21 him I was going to have that conversation.
22 Q. And when did that occur?
23 A. In passing, sometime the week before.
24 Q. So was it a meeting or was it in passing?
25 A. It was a quick -- I was walking by his office
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1 and saw he was there and wanted to touch base with him.
2 So I stuck my head in the door and said, hey, by the
3 way, this is what's going on. It wasn't a formal
4 scheduled meeting.
5 Q. How late was Officer Waddell on the 11th?
6 A. Ten, fifteen minutes with he finally got there,
7 something like that.
8 MR. PALMER: Objection. Misstates testimony.
9 11th or 12th? Unless I heard something wrong.
10 THE HEARING OFFICER: Which one? Do we know?
11 THE WITNESS: We're talking about the 12th
12 right now.
13 BY MS. CASTILLO:
14 Q. We're talking about the 12th?
15 A. Yes.
16 THE HEARING OFFICER: Okay. Thank you.
17 BY MS. CASTILLO:
18 Q. And your earlier testimony was this was the
19 first time it had happened, right?
20 MR. PALMER: Objection. Misstates testimony.
21 BY MS. CASTILLO:
22 Q. Well, the first time you had witnessed it or
23 wanted to bring it up, right?
24 A. That was the fist one documented in this memo.
25 Kevin had been late prior, but it was not documented.
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1 Q. How many times?
2 A. I can think of one time prior to this one, that
3 I'm aware of.
4 Q. When was that?
5 A. Within weeks prior to this.
6 Q. Okay. And so when you talked to Lieutenant
7 Smith in passing and you wanted to bring up the lateness
8 on the 19th, why didn't you document the two times?
9 A. I didn't bring up the lateness on the 19th when
10 I met with him prior. That hadn't happened yet.
11 Q. Right. So when you were going to meet with him
12 on the 19th about the 12th, why didn't you bring up the
13 second time -- or why didn't you document the second
14 time or the first time?
15 A. The first time didn't seem like that big a
16 deal, to me. He was running late, had what seemed like
17 a valid excuse. When he showed up, it wasn't keeping
18 another officer waiting. So we had a quick word about
19 it and that was it. I don't document on paper every
20 time someone does something bone-headed. It's a
21 technical police term.
22 Q. What was the excuse the first time?
23 A. That he had forgotten to get gas.
24 Q. And so what was his excuse on the 12th?
25 A. I'm sorry. The 12th was the gas. The one
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1 before that, I forget what it was. I don't even know if
2 he gave an excuse.
3 Q. Okay. When you talked to Smith in passing
4 about the one late issue you wanted to address, did you
5 also bring up the one or two movie-watching issues?
6 A. Yes.
7 Q. And why didn't you document those then, as
8 well?
9 A. My conversation with Lieutenant Smith was let's
10 just have a talk with him and see how that goes.
11 Q. So did you ever have that talk then?
12 A. No.
13 Q. Okay. But you ended up documenting the 12th
14 late here.
15 A. Right.
16 Q. So just the other stuff you just chose not to
17 document then, right?
18 A. I guess not.
19 Q. Okay. And those -- so at this point in
20 October, you've now been a sergeant for how long?
21 A. About ten months.
22 Q. Ten months. And in this time period, have you
23 been doing the same kind of procedure with going to
24 Lieutenant Smith every time you notice other officers
25 occasionally being late or doing other bone- headed
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1 things and then wanting to document them and/or have
2 conversations?
3 A. I'm not sure I understand your question.
4 Q. Well, in this ten-month time period, surely,
5 there were other officers that you must have noticed had
6 been late one time before.
7 A. Yes.
8 Q. Okay. And had you had conversations with them?
9 A. Well, verbal conversations and write-ups.
10 Q. So you've written other officers up for being
11 late in this ten-month time period?
12 A. Yes.
13 Q. And was it after one time or two times being
14 late?
15 A. The one write-up I'm thinking of right now was
16 the first time they were late.
17 Q. Anyone else that you had issues with for
18 movie-watching or lack of productivity --
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. -- or proactiveness?
21 And these were all reported to Lieutenant Smith
22 or other lieutenants?
23 A. They would have been -- I believe, just --
24 excuse me. I believe, Lieutenant Smith, but they
25 weren't all reported.
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1 Q. And why Lieutenant Smith? Were they all CAT
2 officers?
3 A. No. He was the day watch lieutenant when I was
4 assigned to day watch.
5 Q. Were they all day watch officers?
6 A. No. For the first few months of my promotion,
7 it was on night watch, and he was the night watch
8 lieutenant then.
9 Q. So they were night --
10 A. We rotated every four months. So the first
11 four months of October, I was working nights with
12 Lieutenant Smith as a night watch commander, and then
13 in -- after the first four months, we rotated to days.
14 Actually, I take that back. We did two
15 rotations in nights and rotated days together. So it
16 just happened to be Lieutenant Smith was my lieutenant
17 during the first ten months of being promoted.
18 Q. In this other write-up that you issued after
19 the first time, was that for only a 10 or 15-minute
20 lateness, as well?
21 A. No.
22 Q. Was it much longer?
23 A. After about 30 minutes, I made a phone call.
24 Q. What was your reasoning for wanting to have the
25 CAT shifts reassigned from Officer Waddell?
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1 A. Lack of productivity.
2 Q. That's the only reason?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. Did you ever talk to any of the other
5 sergeants, who happened to supervise the CAT officers,
6 about the productivity of the officers?
7 A. I'm sure we probably did. I don't recall any
8 specific conversations, though.
9 Q. Do you recall any specific conversations about
10 Officer Waddell's lack of productivity?
11 A. I don't.
12 Q. Can you look at Appellant's Exhibit F, please?
13 THE HEARING OFFICER: F, you said?
14 MS. CASTILLO: Yes, F. Am I talking too quiet?
15 THE HEARING OFFICER: How are you? Are you
16 hearing her okay?
17 THE COURT REPORTER: Yeah.
18 THE HEARING OFFICER: Okay.
19 THE WITNESS: Okay.
20 BY MS. CASTILLO:
21 Q. It's a sketch --
22 A. Yes.
23 Q. -- that Lieutenant Smith drew for us of a CAT
24 overtime sign-up sheet.
25 Does this, kind of, look like what would be
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1 posted?
2 A. Yes.
3 Q. Okay. The CAT sheet for the 19th that was
4 blank, at the point, where you went out to the hallway
5 to check the overtime sheet, did it look like this or
6 did it look like a typed sheet?
7 A. It was typed. Well, the form is typed, and
8 then officers handwrite in their names.
9 Q. Okay. The sheets that -- or the e-mails that
10 go out where the officers are assigned after people sign
11 up, right, do those ever get posted anywhere?
12 A. I think we were posting them.
13 Q. Where would those have been posted?
14 A. Well, I think, initially, this goes out in the
15 hall and everybody can sign up on it and Lieutenant
16 Smith was pulling this one with the officers'
17 handwritten names in and he was posting with the dates
18 and who, actually, was assigned.
19 Q. Okay. So the actual e-mail was getting posted
20 then?
21 A. No. The e-mail was going out to the officers,
22 but the sign-up sheet was usually in the hall. That's
23 where I went to look for it.
24 Q. Okay. Right. So this is the sign-up sheet,
25 right?
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1 A. Correct.
2 Q. And then the assigned e-mail goes out, right?
3 A. To the officers, yes.
4 Q. Okay. Is there, then, a third document that is
5 a sheet that has who is assigned that is, basically, the
6 same as what's in the e-mail, but it's posted?
7 A. No. They would get put in the schedule.
8 Q. Just in the computer schedule then?
9 A. Correct.
10 Q. What's that called, again? SpeedShift?
11 A. SpeedShift.
12 Q. But that's not posted, that's in the computer,
13 right?
14 A. SpeedShift is just in the computer.
15 Q. So this hallway document that you would have
16 gone to look for would have been a sign-up sheet?
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. After these are assigned, the sign-up sheets
19 that have all the people who originally signed up but
20 that didn't get assigned, do they go back on the wall?
21 A. I have no idea what you just asked. Sorry.
22 THE HEARING OFFICER: Try it again.
23 BY MS. CASTILLO:
24 Q. So the sign-up sheet where the officers -- two
25 officers, four officers, no officers --
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1 A. Okay.
2 Q. -- after they sign up or don't sign up and then
3 Lieutenant Smith takes it down, types his e-mail of who
4 he picks, puts his schedule, also, into SpeedShift?
5 A. Generally, that would stay on the board after
6 he was done. Sometimes it didn't, but, generally, it
7 would.
8 Q. He then takes this back --
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. -- and puts it back up?
11 A. Yeah. And, that way, officers -- if somebody
12 can't work or something changed and they say, hey, I
13 can't work this one that I signed up for that I was
14 given, he can look at that one and say, hey, do you want
15 this for this day, I can't make it, afterall.
16 Q. Okay. But this sheet, right, which is the --
17 where people sign in, is not the final, right?
18 So would Lieutenant Smith have circled who got
19 the overtime or put a star by their name? I mean, how
20 would you know who won the overtime spot?
21 A. When you got the e-mail.
22 Q. Okay. So then this --
23 A. And sometimes officers come up and cross their
24 name out because, hey, I thought I was going to work
25 this and I can't work it now. So they cross it out and
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1 consider it not there.
2 Q. Okay. So the -- but the -- okay.
3 How far in advance did the shifts get posted?
4 A. Usually, just shortly before the beginning of
5 the month.
6 Q. And you confirmed, via this sign-up sheet, that
7 Officer Waddell was, indeed, working, you sent him the
8 text message, and then you saw Stahnke confirmed all
9 this?
10 A. No. He was not on the sign-up sheet. It was
11 blank for the 19th and it was blank on SpeedShift.
12 That's why I put the call in to Lieutenant Smith, to
13 begin with.
14 Q. Is that what you remember today?
15 A. I'm sorry. I'm reading.
16 Q. Yeah.
17 A. I'm reading from the 12th.
18 Q. What are you doing?
19 A. I'm sitting here, looking at the 12th.
20 Q. How are you -- okay.
21 So what is your recollection of the 19th?
22 A. That he wasn't there and that Stahnke said he
23 was going to be there.
24 Q. Okay. Right, but I'm talking about the sign-up
25 sheet. You said you're reading. What were you reading?
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1 A. Just now, I was reading the memo from the 12th.
2 Q. And, today, you're saying that it was blank,
3 right?
4 A. For the 12th.
5 Q. Now, just -- actually, I have a few more
6 questions.
7 Just looking at 10, Department's 10 --
8 A. The text messages?
9 Q. Correct. You're the dark gray bubbles, right?
10 A. Correct.
11 Q. Your fourth bubble says, "That made no sense.
12 Stop by when you get here."
13 A. Correct.
14 Q. That's when you ask him for the clarification,
15 right?
16 A. No. I said, "That made no sense. Stop by when
17 you get here." I didn't ask him for any clarification.
18 When he got there, I was anticipating some
19 clarification.
20 Q. Okay. So "stop by when you get here" was when
21 you were anticipating further clarification, right?
22 A. Correct.
23 Q. Because you did not understand his first text
24 message, right?
25 A. Correct.
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1 Q. And then he sent you one more text message,
2 right?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. The -- you just testified that after Smith
5 would formalize who works CAT and then repost this with
6 Appellant's F, if someone can't work it or crosses their
7 name off, is it then up to the officers to work out,
8 amongst themselves, if something changes with the extra
9 people?
10 A. Like, the day before?
11 Q. I mean --
12 A. Usually, in advance, there's nothing written
13 down, but, typically, a week before I had signed up for
14 an overtime shift, if I can't make it, I'll find a
15 replacement and say to Lieutenant Smith I can't make it,
16 but Officer Kemp is going to cover for me and is it okay
17 if we switch names, sure, no problem, let's switch the
18 name out.
19 Q. In SpeedShift?
20 A. On the sign-up -- yeah, in SpeedShift.
21 Q. What happens if it's the day before?
22 A. Then, usually, you would have to call the watch
23 commander and say, hey, I'm not going to be in tomorrow,
24 something came up, I've got a family emergency, or
25 whatever the case may be.
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1 Q. And the watch commander changes it in
2 SpeedShift?
3 A. Correct.
4 Q. What if it's sooner than that? What's the
5 protocol then?
6 A. Either way, once it's in SpeedShift, it's an
7 assigned shift, it's an assigned overtime shift. So if
8 you can't work it, you have to go through the formal
9 process.
10 Q. Well, I think that's what I'm getting at. What
11 is the normal process?
12 A. You need to notify whoever is on duty that day.
13 If it's far enough in advance, you can just walk in to
14 Lieutenant Smith and say, hey, boss, I can't make this
15 day, I'm really sorry, can I get out of it, and, most of
16 the time, they'll say, yeah, sure, I have a bunch of
17 other names I can call and I'll make arrangements.
18 Q. Right. Because it's overtime, right?
19 A. Correct.
20 Q. Everyone wants it?
21 A. Correct.
22 Q. But if it's not far enough in advance...
23 A. Then you call the on-duty supervisor and make
24 arrangements.
25 Q. Okay. And that's for coverage, right?
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1 A. Correct.
2 Q. And you're not aware of any times when the
3 officers would just make coverage arrangements between
4 themselves?
5 A. And not tell anybody?
6 Q. Yeah.
7 A. Um, I'm not aware of any. I'm not going to say
8 it's never happened, but I'm not aware of any.
9 Q. Okay. Prior to your supervision of Officer
10 Waddell, how much time had you spent working with him
11 previously?
12 A. Not a lot.
13 Q. Not a lot?
14 A. No. Just S.W.A.T. team training days, and
15 prior to -- prior to that, not much. I think I had,
16 maybe, two rotations while we were working on the same
17 end-of-the-week nights, but he was assigned downtown and
18 I was patrol.
19 Q. And it was only when you became his supervisor
20 that you then had these issues with him, correct?
21 A. I didn't have issues because he wasn't mine to
22 have issues with prior to that, correct.
23 Q. You testified previously that you knew that the
24 lieutenants were aware of the Bentley incident and
25 didn't do anything with the information at the time, but
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1 then, later, it came back up, right?
2 A. That's my understanding.
3 Q. Okay. And it came back up after the texting IA
4 when Officer Waddell was put on administrative leave,
5 right?
6 A. Yes.
7 Q. And do you know how that occurred?
8 A. Are you talking about my conversation with
9 Captain Storton?
10 Q. Is that how it came back up?
11 A. That's -- well, that's when I was aware it came
12 back up.
13 Q. Okay. Can you explain that?
14 A. It's the same as what we talked about before.
15 Captain Storton asked me if there would be any reason
16 that Kevin would be nervous around me, if I had
17 disciplined him prior, and he wanted to know about a
18 prior discipline issue. So I asked if he was referring
19 about the Bentley, and he said, tell me about that.
20 Q. What do you mean nervous around you? That's
21 what -- Captain Storton asked you if Kevin would have a
22 reason to be nervous around you?
23 A. Correct. Something to that. I don't know if
24 that's the exact words he used, but that was the implied
25 question.
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1 Q. And were you called into Captain Storton's
2 office for this?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. And, at that point, you said, are you talking
5 about the Bentley incident?
6 A. Something to that effect, yes.
7 THE HEARING OFFICER: I'm sorry. Do we have a
8 time frame for this? I don't know if you asked a
9 question already, or, if not, I'm asking.
10 When did this interview occur? This is with
11 Captain Storton.
12 THE WITNESS: Yes. Between -- I would say
13 early December, if I recall correctly.
14 THE HEARING OFFICER: December 2013, around
15 then?
16 THE WITNESS: Yes.
17 THE HEARING OFFICER: Okay.
18 THE WITNESS: Sorry. I thought you meant the
19 time frame for how much longer we were going to be
20 asking questions.
21 THE HEARING OFFICER: No. I can understand why
22 one might ask that, since I'm constantly bringing that
23 up; although, I am thinking of a potty break here. Is
24 that okay?
25 MS. CASTILLO: Yeah. We can take a break.
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1 THE HEARING OFFICER: So why don't we take five
2 or ten.
3 (Recess.)
4 THE HEARING OFFICER: So we're back on the
5 record and, Ms. Castillo, you still have the floor.
6 MS. CASTILLO: Okay. Thank you.
7 BY MS. CASTILLO:
8 Q. Okay. We were just talking about your
9 conversation with Captain Storton. Okay. This was
10 after Officer Waddell was placed on administrative
11 leave.
12 If I told you that was the 12th of December,
13 would that refresh your recollection?
14 A. Sounds about right.
15 Q. Okay. So it would have been after that?
16 A. I think I said in December.
17 Q. So, after that, do you have any kind of time
18 frame after that, approximately, when you were called
19 in?
20 A. I don't.
21 Q. Okay. And he asked you had you ever
22 disciplined him, was he nervous about you -- or around
23 you and you said are you talking about the Bentley
24 incident.
25 Why didn't you bring up, you know, when you had
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1 caught him watching movies or being late or anything
2 like that? Why did you immediately go to the Bentley,
3 which you thought was a joke?
4 A. I thought that's what he was talking about.
5 Q. Well, why?
6 A. I guess, because he had been out and people
7 were starting to wonder why, nobody was talking and
8 there were a lot of officers present during that and
9 that -- in my mind, that's probably something that was
10 brought to his attention and he wanted to hear about it,
11 either that or the lieutenants told him about it, is
12 what I assumed.
13 Q. But you knew he was out --
14 A. But I don't know why he brought...
15 Q. But you knew he was out on administrative leave
16 because you had reported that he had lied to you and
17 Lieutenant Smith about having preexisting permission,
18 right?
19 A. I knew that's why he was out.
20 Q. So you just assumed he was speaking about
21 something from almost a whole year before that had never
22 been talked about in the department, ever?
23 A. Yes. That's what I thought he was talking
24 about.
25 Q. And do you know how Captain Storton was made
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1 aware of the Bentley incident? Because you just stated
2 that the lieutenant asked you about it, obviously.
3 A. I don't know, for sure, how he became aware of
4 it.
5 Q. How do you think?
6 A. Either from the lieutenants or from me or other
7 officers talking to him.
8 Q. And you say, "from me." Would that have been
9 the first time you would have brought it up to Captain
10 Storton?
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. Did you have any knowledge of whether or not
13 Lieutenant Smith brought it up to Captain Storton prior
14 to your conversation with him?
15 A. I don't know who talked to him about it, if
16 anyone, prior to me bringing it up.
17 Q. Did you ever have a conversation with Captain
18 Staley about it?
19 A. Not -- no.
20 Q. Okay. And so when he said is this about -- you
21 said is this about the Bentley incident, did he say yes,
22 or did he just say, no, I'm asking you about discipline
23 and nervousness?
24 MR. PALMER: Objection. Asked and answered.
25 ///
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
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1 BY MS. CASTILLO:
2 Q. Well, because you asked him -- I can withdraw
3 that.
4 THE HEARING OFFICER: I'll let him -- all
5 right. Go ahead.
6 BY MS. CASTILLO:
7 Q. You asked him a question in response to his
8 question? Is that what happened?
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. Okay. So what was his response to you?
11 A. It was something to the effect of tell me about
12 that.
13 Q. And what did he tell you -- or what did you
14 tell him? Sorry.
15 A. Everything we've already talked about. I
16 rehashed the entire Bentley incident.
17 Q. And at the time that you did this, did you get
18 the impression that he was aware of it?
19 A. I didn't know one way or another.
20 Q. Did he ask you questions or just let you give a
21 narrative?
22 A. I think he asked a couple, few questions, but I
23 don't recall what they were. I think just a couple
24 clarifying stuff, if I remember correctly.
25 Q. So after you told him about the Bentley
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1 incident, did he go back to his original question where
2 he had asked you about previous discipline on Officer
3 Waddell, any other time you made him nervous, and say,
4 okay, other than this Bentley incident?
5 A. I don't believe so.
6 Q. Did you ever get the impression that you made
7 Officer Waddell nervous?
8 A. No.
9 Q. Did you ever communicate that to any of the
10 lieutenants?
11 A. That I made him nervous?
12 Q. Right.
13 A. I don't know how that would have come up.
14 Q. Okay. So when --
15 A. No. I don't believe I did, unless -- no. Not
16 to my knowledge.
17 Q. Did you ask Captain Storton why he was asking
18 about the nervousness?
19 A. Yeah. The crux of this whole conversation was
20 when Kevin told you that he had permission previously,
21 was that a mistake of the mind or the heart? Did he
22 intentionally lie to you because he feared that you were
23 going to get him in some huge amount of trouble because
24 of some prior incident you guys had, or what, is the way
25 I took it.
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1 Q. Okay. So when you were called in by Captain
2 Storton, he initially started off the conversation to
3 ask you about the texting conversation or the -- the
4 lateness issue between you, Smith and Officer Waddell?
5 A. I think that was what motivated him to call me
6 in, but we didn't discuss that issue.
7 Q. Start from the beginning.
8 A. It was a, hey, this -- we're going into the --
9 kind of the penalty phase of this investigation and I'm
10 looking to see if you ever had any prior issues with
11 Kevin.
12 So, I guess, we -- the conversation was
13 prompted by the texting, but we didn't discuss the
14 details of the texting, if that makes sense.
15 Q. Okay. Prior issues with Kevin. So as in kind
16 of a history of animosity or hostility or something like
17 that?
18 A. Correct.
19 Q. And you say no, correct?
20 A. Yes, that's correct.
21 Q. And did he ask you about a history of integrity
22 problems at that point?
23 A. He might have, but I don't recall that.
24 Q. You don't -- as you sit here today, you
25 don't --
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1 A. No.
2 Q. You remember the other, but not that?
3 A. Yeah. That's not something that made a lasting
4 impression in that conversation.
5 Q. Okay. Then -- then the impression you got
6 is -- so he says we're coming into the penalty phase and
7 something to the effect of I want to understand if this
8 was a mistake of the mind or of the heart?
9 A. That's -- like I said before, that's not what
10 he said, but that's the way I took his questioning, is
11 we're trying to figure out what happened.
12 Q. Okay.
13 A. Or why it happened.
14 Q. Okay. And then, at that point, he's asking if
15 he feared you, or something like that? I wrote that
16 down, but I don't know if that's what I wrote or if --
17 is that something you said?
18 A. He asked if we had any prior issues. I don't
19 remember if he said or I said was Kevin -- does Kevin
20 fear you. I don't think that's something he would have
21 said.
22 Q. Okay. And so he's asking you what and why it
23 happened and so can you -- can you kind of relay exactly
24 how he asks you this?
25 MR. PALMER: Objection. Asked and answered.
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1 THE HEARING OFFICER: Yeah. Let's move on to
2 something else.
3 BY MS. CASTILLO:
4 Q. So your response is, I believe the Bentley, and
5 that's what then happens, right?
6 MR. PALMER: Objection. Unintelligible.
7 THE HEARING OFFICER: Do you understand the
8 question?
9 THE WITNESS: No.
10 THE HEARING OFFICER: Let's try it again.
11 BY MS. CASTILLO:
12 Q. So he asks you what and why and that's what you
13 believe was the motivation. I'm just kind of recapping
14 to make sure I get the timing right.
15 And then he goes, well, I'm just -- prior
16 issues and then you say are you asking about the
17 Bentley, right?
18 A. Correct.
19 Q. Okay. Now, you were not interviewed about this
20 texting IA by Captain Storton, right?
21 A. Correct.
22 Q. You were interviewed by --
23 A. By Lieutenant Bledsoe.
24 Q. Right. Twice, right?
25 A. Yes.
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1 Q. At any point in those interviews, do you
2 remember being asked those kinds of questions by
3 Lieutenant Bledsoe what --
4 MR. PALMER: Objection. Vague what kind of
5 questions.
6 MS. CASTILLO: The motivation.
7 THE HEARING OFFICER: Do you understand?
8 THE WITNESS: I don't believe Lieutenant
9 Bledsoe asked me about his motivation.
10 BY MS. CASTILLO:
11 Q. Or prior issues?
12 A. I don't believe he did. He was specific to the
13 texting issue.
14 Q. Okay. And this wasn't recorded, right, this
15 meeting with Captain Storton?
16 A. I believe it was.
17 Q. You believe it was?
18 A. I think. I don't know. I believe it was,
19 though.
20 Q. Did you see a recorder on the table?
21 A. Yeah. I don't know if it malfunctioned or not,
22 but...
23 Q. Well, and he told you he was recording?
24 MR. PALMER: Objection. Pronoun, "he," vague.
25 MS. CASTILLO: Captain Storton.
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1 THE WITNESS: Captain Storton never recorded
2 anything. We were talking about Lieutenant Bledsoe and
3 my IA review.
4 MS. CASTILLO: No. I'm sorry. I was talking
5 about Captain Storton.
6 MR. PALMER: I'm going to interpose an
7 objection to most of this line of questioning is asked
8 and answered and I don't know what the goal is. Is it
9 to ask him the same question a different way the 40th
10 time and hope we get a different answer?
11 THE HEARING OFFICER: So where are we going
12 with this, Ms. Castillo?
13 MS. CASTILLO: Well, we're -- I'm asking not
14 about Lieutenant Bledsoe, at all. So I think we're on a
15 different page.
16 THE HEARING OFFICER: You're asking about...
17 MS. CASTILLO: Captain Storton's conversation
18 with him in his office. So if we're on a different
19 page --
20 THE HEARING OFFICER: Let's see if we can,
21 perhaps, dispose of this line of questioning sooner
22 rather than later, but go ahead.
23 BY MS. CASTILLO:
24 Q. Was there a recorder on the table with you and
25 Captain Storton?
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1 A. No, there was not.
2 Q. Okay. That clears up the last five questions.
3 I apologize.
4 THE HEARING OFFICER: Yay.
5 MS. CASTILLO: And I'm almost done anyways. I
6 can be done.
7 THE HEARING OFFICER: So ready for
8 cross-examination?
9 MR. PALMER: Yes.
10 THE HEARING OFFICER: All right. Go ahead.
11
12 CROSS-EXAMINATION
13 BY MR. PALMER:
14 Q. Good morning, Sergeant.
15 A. Good morning.
16 Q. Do you recall the line of questioning
17 Ms. Castillo had with you about her suggestion that you
18 and Mr. Waddell and Lieutenant Smith get on the phone on
19 October 19th and try to hash this out?
20 A. Yes.
21 Q. And you said that you would have denied him
22 that opportunity if that had been his request?
23 A. Yes.
24 Q. And you said that because Lieutenant Smith was
25 off duty, there's no reason to bother him at home while
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1 he was off duty for that type of conversation?
2 A. Correct.
3 Q. Would it have also been in your mind that there
4 could be a potential Public Safety Officers Procedural
5 Bill of Rights violation doing something like that?
6 A. Yes. Absolutely. That's what I testified to
7 last time.
8 Q. Because was it in your mind at that point in
9 time that Mr. Waddell had, at least, in your mind,
10 committed potential misconduct?
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. And do you think getting on the phone with
13 Lieutenant Smith would have, invariably, led to a round
14 of questioning?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. Would that have been violative of the Public
17 Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights?
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. You said you -- you said whether or not you
20 have always tried to have perfect punctuation in text
21 messages depends on who I'm talking to?
22 A. Correct.
23 Q. What did you mean by that?
24 A. My text to my brother and wife get fairly
25 sloppy. If I'm talking to one of the captains via text,
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1 I try to be a little more professional.
2 Q. Would it also be safe to say that if you're
3 talking or texting with somebody about a serious matter,
4 you try to be more careful, as well?
5 A. Yes.
6 Q. When Mr. Waddell text you, was he texting you
7 as his supervisor?
8 A. Yes.
9 Q. Exhibit 10, since we're talking about texting.
10 A. Okay.
11 Q. The first text from Mr. Waddell in response to
12 yours did not make sense to you, correct?
13 A. Correct.
14 Q. Okay. Do you know if the reason it didn't make
15 sense to you is because of the way Mr. Waddell typed it
16 or was it because of auto correct?
17 A. I don't know.
18 Q. I'm trying to break down these words. "Yes,"
19 period, "sorry" -- excuse me -- "sorry," period.
20 Is there any ambiguity or vagueness in that
21 part of his response?
22 A. No.
23 Q. Okay. "I have worked out ahead of one with" --
24 and that -- do you interpret the next word to be -- set
25 of letters to be LT?
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1 A. I do now. When I first saw it, I thought it
2 was --
3 MS. CASTILLO: Objection. Relevance.
4 THE HEARING OFFICER: Overruled. You can
5 answer.
6 THE WITNESS: I do now. When I first read
7 this, I thought it was the word, it, and not the
8 abbreviation for lieutenant.
9 BY MR. PALMER:
10 Q. Okay. Fair enough. So "with it Smith" is the
11 way you interpreted it when it first came in?
12 A. Correct.
13 Q. Did that make any sense to you?
14 A. No.
15 Q. Okay. "I'm on the way in now." That's clear
16 and unambiguous?
17 A. Correct.
18 Q. The second text from Mr. Waddell, you have to
19 go to the second page to get the entire thing of Exhibit
20 10?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. Is there any ambiguity there?
23 A. No.
24 Q. In terms of how you interpreted it the day you
25 received it, were you clear and unambiguous as to what
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1 it meant?
2 A. I was.
3 Q. Do you think there was any influence, at all,
4 possibly, in his second text message, any auto correct
5 influence in that message?
6 A. No.
7 Q. The issue of Mr. Waddell's lateness on October
8 12th was discussed between you and Ms. Castillo. Do you
9 recall that?
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. Okay. Did his lateness -- actually, let me go
12 back and come back in.
13 Part of October 12th was he was late upon
14 arriving for his shift, correct?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. Did he also leave early from his shift?
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. Okay. Did the October 12th thing, his lateness
19 and leaving early, become an event which required
20 documentation only because of the October 19th event?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. Until the October 19th event occurred, would
23 the October 12th event ever have required documentation,
24 in your mind?
25 A. It depended on the officer, but in this case, I
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1 would -- obviously, I did not, and no.
2 Q. Okay. When you say dependent upon the officer,
3 do you mean, by that, that it depended upon how
4 Mr. Waddell reacted to you on October 19th, had you been
5 able to have the conversation with him about October
6 12th?
7 A. In part. Part of it would have been that, but
8 also coupled with was this the fourth time in the last
9 month he had been tardy to work.
10 Q. Okay. Prior to -- let's forget the October
11 19th part of this event. Okay?
12 A. Okay.
13 Q. So you're on duty as you normally were on
14 October 19th, you were planning to have this
15 conversation with him when he came in on October 19th
16 about the October 12th event. You with me so far?
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. Had he been on time that day, would you have
19 had that conversation with him?
20 A. Yes.
21 Q. Let's imagine that he responded positively to
22 your conversation. Okay?
23 A. Okay.
24 Q. At that point, would you have felt any need to
25 document it?
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1 A. No.
2 MR. PALMER: Nothing further.
3 THE HEARING OFFICER: Anything on redirect?
4 MS. CASTILLO: Yes.
5
6 REDIRECT EXAMINATION
7 BY MS. CASTILLO:
8 Q. Your testimony was that you did not want to
9 participate in a conference call with your lieutenant
10 and yourself and Officer Waddell at Officer Waddell's
11 request because of potential POBAR issues because you
12 suspected that he had committed misconduct, right?
13 MR. PALMER: Objection. Misstates the
14 evidence.
15 BY MS. CASTILLO:
16 Q. I'm sorry. What was --
17 THE HEARING OFFICER: Well, it is what it is.
18 If you have a correction to what she said, you can say
19 it. Otherwise --
20 BY MS. CASTILLO:
21 Q. What was your reason?
22 A. That it was definitely, potentially, punitive
23 and I was trying to protect Kevin from saying something
24 stupid.
25 Q. Even if he wanted to --
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1 A. Yes.
2 Q. -- have that conversation?
3 But back in February, you called him into your
4 office and let him have it. I think the words was chew
5 his ass on the Bentley matter, right?
6 A. We talked about the Bentley issue, yes.
7 Q. You chewed his ass, right?
8 A. Sure.
9 Q. And he had a conversation with you then, right?
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. And he responded and said all kinds of things
12 in response to your questions, right, and statements,
13 right?
14 A. No. I told him -- no.
15 Q. No? You didn't have a conversation or you did?
16 A. We had a conversation. We didn't talk about
17 all kinds of things.
18 Q. Well, what did you talk about?
19 A. I told him the ramifications of the actions and
20 how disappointed I was with him.
21 Q. Okay. And you suspected him of misconduct
22 then, as well as, right?
23 A. I didn't know.
24 Q. You didn't know?
25 A. I didn't believe so that night. Obviously, it
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1 was improper, but I didn't anticipate it becoming
2 something that was potentially punitive after that.
3 Q. You didn't?
4 A. Correct.
5 Q. Ramifications and improper, but you didn't
6 think there could be potential punitive action arising
7 from what happened?
8 A. Not that night, no.
9 Q. Oh, not that night?
10 A. Correct.
11 Q. But maybe later?
12 A. Well, now I believe there's -- it's, obviously,
13 punitive.
14 Q. Well, as you sit here today, right?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. So back to the texting questions of
17 Mr. Palmer's, you agreed that you are a little more
18 professional when you text message with your captain,
19 right?
20 A. Yes.
21 Q. There's not really anything unprofessional in
22 these text messages, is there, in terms of language and
23 tone, right?
24 A. No.
25 Q. So what we're talking about is words and
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1 punctuation that are at issue here, right?
2 A. Yes. When you asked before, you said
3 punctuation. So I took that to mean misspelled words.
4 Q. Well, we have the issue of one and it versus
5 lieutenant, right? There was a couple of issues,
6 correct?
7 A. Correct.
8 Q. Okay. But what you did not -- you had
9 confusion with text one of Kevin's, correct?
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. Okay. But with text two, in your mind, on that
12 day, there was no ambiguity, whatsoever, right?
13 A. Correct.
14 Q. There was with text one, however, right?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. So half of your conversation you didn't
17 understand, fair?
18 A. Correct.
19 Q. Did you know what Kevin was doing on the other
20 end of that conversation as he was texting you?
21 A. No idea.
22 Q. Did you know if he was multitasking, in any
23 way?
24 A. I don't have any idea what he was doing.
25 Q. Is there a reason you didn't call him versus
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1 texting him?
2 A. No.
3 Q. You just said something about the fourth
4 wouldn't have required documentation -- I'm sorry.
5 The 12th wouldn't have required documentation
6 for his lateness, and then you said something about it
7 being the fourth time in the last month with him being
8 late to work?
9 A. No, that's not what I said.
10 Q. That's why -- I don't understand what you said.
11 THE HEARING OFFICER: So let's clarify that.
12 THE WITNESS: Mr. Palmer asked when would I
13 document something like that or why wouldn't I document
14 that, and my explanation was, if it's an employee
15 problem, if this is becoming a progressive problem and
16 he's doing it every other day, then, obviously, there's
17 going to be documentation of that, but one time in a
18 series of months with a valid excuse and positive
19 response to my questioning would not require written
20 documentation.
21 BY MS. CASTILLO:
22 Q. Okay. So then why did you document the 12th in
23 your memo about the texting? Why not just write your
24 memo about the conversation regarding the text message?
25 A. Because it was an ongoing problem at this point
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1 and Lieutenant Smith asked me to.
2 Q. Lieutenant Smith, when he asked you to write
3 the memo, also asked you to document the lateness?
4 A. Yes. It was part of our conversation.
5 Q. But you only did that one time, right?
6 A. Correct.
7 Q. And this ongoing problem was only the problem
8 that you had noticed.
9 Other than the conversation that you had with
10 Officer Waddell and the conversation that you had with
11 Lieutenant Smith and then attaching your text messages
12 and then him asking you to also document the lateness,
13 was there anything else he asked you to include in your
14 memorandum?
15 A. Not that I recall.
16 Q. If he left early on the 12th, did you call him
17 to come back?
18 A. No.
19 Q. Why not?
20 A. Because it was quarter till, if I recall
21 correctly. What am I going to do? Call him back for 15
22 minutes? By the time he got back and dressed out, it
23 would be 20 after.
24 Q. And do you know why he was late -- I mean, why
25 he left early? Do you know anything about that?
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1 A. I believe it was childcare issues.
2 Q. What do you mean you believe?
3 A. I believe Officer Inglehart told me it was
4 childcare issues.
5 Q. Did you ever have a conversation with Officer
6 Waddell about it?
7 A. No.
8 Q. Do you know if Officer Waddell had ever had a
9 conversation with anyone else about those childcare
10 issues on the 12th?
11 A. I didn't hear the last. On the 12th?
12 Q. Right.
13 A. I don't know. I believe I got it from Officer
14 Inglehart. Bill and they were friends. So I'm sure he
15 talked to him about it.
16 Q. Do you know where Officer Inglehart got his
17 information?
18 A. I just said from Waddell.
19 Q. No. You said you assumed, but did you --
20 A. Well, they worked together and he said he had
21 to leave early because he had childcare issues. So I'm
22 not sure what else that could mean.
23 MS. CASTILLO: I think I don't have anything
24 else.
25 THE HEARING OFFICER: Anything on recross?
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1 MR. PALMER: No.
2 THE HEARING OFFICER: May we excuse this
3 witness now? Are we all done with him?
4 MS. CASTILLO: I believe so.
5 THE HEARING OFFICER: You're not sure?
6 MS. CASTILLO: We still have the Pitchess
7 motion to do.
8 THE HEARING OFFICER: Right. That's true.
9 Okay.
10 Sergeant Pfarr, thank you very much for your
11 help here. I don't know if we're going to have you back
12 or not, but we'll let you know.
13 THE WITNESS: Thank you.
14 THE HEARING OFFICER: Thank you very much. And
15 please don't discuss your testimony with anybody else
16 while the matter's still going.
17 THE WITNESS: Understood.
18 THE HEARING OFFICER: Thank you.
19 MR. PALMER: Could we go off the record for a
20 minute?
21 THE HEARING OFFICER: Yes, we may.
22 (Discussion off the record.)
23 THE HEARING OFFICER: So we're back on the
24 record and, at this time, Ms. Castillo would like to
25 play some of the recorded AI interview of -- or
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1 interviews of Sergeant Pfarr, and we've excused him. So
2 he's not going to be asked any questions. This was,
3 hopefully, in the interest of saving some time. We may
4 be following along on the transcripts, but it's been
5 asked that the hearing officer listen to the testimony.
6 So I've said that that's fine.
7 And, Mr. Palmer, did you want to interpose an
8 objection for the record?
9 MR. PALMER: Yes, please. I would object to
10 playing the tape. I think it's unduly time-consuming.
11 I know we don't have the equivalent of 352 here, but
12 that's what we're talking about. We can mark the tape,
13 we can mark the disk as an exhibit. You could listen to
14 it at your leisure after the evidence is closed, she can
15 refer to whatever she wants to on the recording in
16 argument. It's just an undue waste of time.
17 THE HEARING OFFICER: All right. I'm going to
18 allow it, with the caveat that we're not going to spend
19 more than the amount of time between now and lunch
20 listening to it, right?
21 MS. CASTILLO: There's two interviews for a
22 total of 18 minutes, grand total.
23 THE HEARING OFFICER: Okay. So I'm going to --
24 ordinarily, I would agree with you. This is a
25 termination appeal. I'm giving the appellant the
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1 benefit of the doubt here. So I will listen to it. We
2 will relieve the court reporter of the necessity of
3 recording, again, what was said.
4 And if either of the parties have any
5 observations they want to make in the spirit of
6 listening to it as an argument, I'm happy to take that
7 into consideration.
8 So are we ready for the first cue-up? And you
9 want to identify what we're listening to and, perhaps,
10 give us an idea of where it is in the documents?
11 MS. CASTILLO: Yes. The appellant has
12 previously submitted and admitted the transcript of
13 Sergeant Pfarr's interview. What number letter is that?
14 Well, for identification purposes, the city, at least,
15 has it as 15.
16 THE HEARING OFFICER: So City or Department
17 15 --
18 MS. CASTILLO: I'm sorry. It's 15. With the
19 department it's -- no. I'm sorry.
20 MR. PALMER: 12.
21 MS. CASTILLO: 12 and --
22 THE HEARING OFFICER: 12.
23 MS. CASTILLO: 12 and 16.
24 MR. PALMER: There you go.
25 MS. CASTILLO: We have Exhibit C.
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1 THE HEARING OFFICER: Exhibit B, you say?
2 MS. CASTILLO: C.
3 THE HEARING OFFICER: C. Okay. The one I
4 don't have in front of me, of course.
5 MR. PALMER: It's the Bentley.
6 MS. CASTILLO: Okay. So I'll need to admit our
7 transcripts of this one still, but if you want to follow
8 along, you can follow along with the department's
9 exhibit, and I'll get those ready.
10 THE HEARING OFFICER: All right. Just to note
11 this for the record, what's going to get played is there
12 were two or three different interviews here; is that
13 right?
14 Department's 12 is an interview of Sergeant
15 Pfarr by Lieutenant Bledsoe on November 15, 2013, I
16 guess.
17 MS. CASTILLO: Right. So we're going to play
18 that first.
19 THE HEARING OFFICER: All right. I'm just
20 noting all these for the record.
21 Then we're going to also listen to, at some
22 point, Department 16, which is an interview of Sergeant
23 Pfarr by Lieutenant Bledsoe on December 13, and then --
24 MS. CASTILLO: I misspoke on RC. RC is of the
25 Bentley.
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1 THE HEARING OFFICER: So no go. So it's those
2 two?
3 MS. CASTILLO: Right.
4 THE HEARING OFFICER: Okay. Thank you.
5 MS. CASTILLO: I will get those ready while --
6 yeah.
7 THE HEARING OFFICER: So just one more thing.
8 So these are related to the CAT shift event; is that
9 right?
10 MS. CASTILLO: Correct.
11 THE HEARING OFFICER: All right. Just wanted
12 it noted.
13 (Audio playing.)
14 THE HEARING OFFICER: So we've completed
15 listening to the portions of the interviews of Sergeant
16 Pfarr that were identified and cued up for us by
17 Ms. Castillo. Now we're going to take care of some more
18 housekeeping related to marking documents and, possibly,
19 considering their admission.
20 So are we up to now talking about Appellant's
21 30, or did we mark it already?
22 MS. CASTILLO: DD, right?
23 MR. PALMER: That would be the next one.
24 THE HEARING OFFICER: I'll catch up with you on
25 that. It wouldn't be 30. It would be DD. That's
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1 right, but I believe it's the 30th document. So we're
2 going to identify this as...
3 MS. CASTILLO: San Luis Obispo Police
4 Department Policy Manual from 2014-01-08.
5 MR. PALMER: I'm sorry. What is it, again?
6 THE HEARING OFFICER: It's a policy manual.
7 And you had a date for that. Well, we can just pass it
8 out and we'll all take a look at it.
9 So it's a portion of the policy manual. Looks
10 like it's two pages, and the date that's at the bottom
11 is 2014-01-08, and it says on here Lexipol, LLC.
12 Is that a company or term I should be familiar
13 with? Since you mentioned that earlier, I just wondered
14 if that's...
15 MS. CASTILLO: Right. I think we had testimony
16 from Lieutenant Proll last time of the change in their
17 policy manual.
18 THE HEARING OFFICER: Okay. All right.
19 MR. PALMER: I think these -- at least, mine
20 looks like the pages were stapled in reverse.
21 MS. CASTILLO: Were they?
22 MR. PALMER: On mine.
23 THE HEARING OFFICER: Yeah. It looks like Page
24 435 and 434 are transposed.
25 MS. CASTILLO: Sorry about that.
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1 THE HEARING OFFICER: And maybe just to clarify
2 what the record is, it looks like this deals with
3 portions of Section 1020.6, 7 and 8.
4 MS. CASTILLO: Yes. We just -- the question
5 was -- last time dealt with 1020.6. 2, and, I believe,
6 1020.7.
7 THE HEARING OFFICER: Okay. It related to
8 personnel complaints and administrative investigation
9 format. Okay.
10 MS. CASTILLO: Correct.
11 THE HEARING OFFICER: Any objection to DD?
12 MR. PALMER: No.
13 THE HEARING OFFICER: Without objection, DD is
14 admitted.
15 MS. CASTILLO: Okay. Then I also have -- since
16 we're doing this now, I have what we would mark as -- I
17 guess, we're at EE.
18 THE HEARING OFFICER: Okay.
19 MS. CASTILLO: And this will be the complete
20 audio files for both investigations.
21 MR. PALMER: So these are all the interview
22 recordings?
23 MS. CASTILLO: Yes.
24 MR. PALMER: Every single one of them?
25 MS. CASTILLO: Yes.
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1 MR. PALMER: Of both investigations?
2 MS. CASTILLO: Well, the ones we got.
3 THE HEARING OFFICER: For both the CAT shift
4 and the Bentley --
5 MR. PALMER: Don't be snarky.
6 THE HEARING OFFICER: -- events; is that right?
7 MS. CASTILLO: Right. The portion of
8 Cudworth's.
9 THE HEARING OFFICER: So just for the record,
10 it's what the appellant received, that's what's being
11 offered, all of those files, audio files?
12 MS. CASTILLO: Correct.
13 THE HEARING OFFICER: All right. So any
14 objection to EE?
15 MR. PALMER: Only that I don't know, actually,
16 what's on the tape. I'll take it at face value and
17 reserve any comments to be made on it, but no.
18 THE HEARING OFFICER: All right. So I'm going
19 to admit EE. If there's any clarification or other
20 issues that need to come up, we'll deal with that at the
21 appropriate time. Okay?
22 MS. CASTILLO: All right.
23 THE HEARING OFFICER: And is there another one
24 for the witness file?
25 MS. CASTILLO: I do have an extra one.
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1 THE HEARING OFFICER: Okay. So, Mr. Palmer,
2 I'll just put that right here.
3 MR. PALMER: Thank you.
4 THE HEARING OFFICER: Uh-huh.
5 MS. CASTILLO: I'm just double-checking that I
6 have copies. Okay. So then Appellant's FF --
7 THE HEARING OFFICER: Okay.
8 MS. CASTILLO: -- will be the November 15th
9 audio certified transcript of Sergeant Chad Pfarr's
10 interview and the CAT interview with Lieutenant Bledsoe.
11 THE HEARING OFFICER: So this November 15th
12 interview of Sergeant Pfarr, that's what we heard a
13 little earlier?
14 MS. CASTILLO: That's the first.
15 THE HEARING OFFICER: And that's not included
16 within EE?
17 MS. CASTILLO: It is. It's the certified
18 transcript of the appellant.
19 THE HEARING OFFICER: Oh. This is the
20 transcript then, not the audio file. Okay.
21 MS. CASTILLO: Right.
22 THE HEARING OFFICER: Okay.
23 MS. CASTILLO: The accompanying. I think I
24 might be short one.
25 MR. PALMER: Okay. I can make a copy.
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1 MS. CASTILLO: Or I can e-mail you a PDF for
2 your file.
3 MR. PALMER: Don't worry about it.
4 MS. CASTILLO: So GG will be --
5 THE HEARING OFFICER: Any objection to FF?
6 MR. PALMER: No.
7 THE HEARING OFFICER: Without objection, FF is
8 admitted. On to GG.
9 MS. CASTILLO: Sorry about that. GG would be
10 the December 13th transcription of Sergeant Chad Pfarr's
11 interview or follow-up interview with Lieutenant Bledsoe
12 on the same matter --
13 THE HEARING OFFICER: Okay.
14 MS. CASTILLO: -- to go with the corresponding
15 audio file in Appellant's B.
16 THE HEARING OFFICER: Very good. Thank you.
17 MR. PALMER: Thank you.
18 THE HEARING OFFICER: So any objection to GG?
19 MR. PALMER: No.
20 THE HEARING OFFICER: All right. Without
21 objection, GG is admitted.
22 MS. CASTILLO: Okay. And then Lieutenant
23 Smith.
24 THE HEARING OFFICER: So ready to break for
25 lunch then?
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1 MS. CASTILLO: That works.
2 THE HEARING OFFICER: All right. So let's go
3 off the record.
4 (The proceedings adjourned at 11: 43 a.m.)
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1 REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE
2 STATE OF CALIFORNIA) SS.
3
4 I, MELISSA PLOOY, Certified Shorthand Reporter,
5 licensed in the State of California, holding CSR License
6 No. 13068, do hereby certify:
7 That said proceeding was verbatim-reported by me by
8 the use of computer shorthand at the time and place
9 therein stated and thereafter transcribed into writing
10 under my direction.
11 I further certify that I am not of counsel nor
12 attorney for or related to the parties hereto, nor am I
13 in any way interested in the outcome of this action.
14 In compliance with Section 8016 of the Business and
15 Professions Code, I certify under penalty of perjury
16 that I am a Certified Shorthand Reporter with License
17 No. 13068 in full force and effect.
18 WITNESS my hand this ____________ day of
19 _____________, ________.
20 __________________________________
MELISSA PLOOY, CSR#13068
21
22
23
24
25
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
Administrative Record Page 2642
BEFORE THE CITY COUNCIL
OF THE CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO
In the Matter of the Appeal of the )
Dismissal of OFFICER KEVIN WADDELL,)
Appellant, )
vs. )Case No. ARB-14-0209
POLICE DEPARTMENT OF THE CITY OF )
SAN LUIS OBISPO, )
Hiring Authority. )VOLUME 8
PAGES 1546- 1655
TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS
San Luis Obispo, California
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
1:07 p.m. - 4:54 p.m.
REPORTED BY JACQLYN M. GRIFFITH
CSR NO. 13122
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1 THE TRANSCRIPT OF THE PROCEEDINGS
2 was taken at SAN LUIS OBISPO CITY COUNCIL, 990 Palm
3 Street, San Luis Obispo, California, before
4 JACQLYN M. GRIFFITH, a Certified Shorthand Reporter in
5 and for the State of California, on Wednesday, September
6 2, 2015, commencing at the hour of 1:07 p.m.
7
8 APPEARANCES OF COUNSEL:
9
HEARING OFFICER: SOUTHWESTERN LAW SCHOOL
10 BY: CHRISTOPHER DAVID RUIZ CAMERON
PROFESSOR OF LAW
11 3050 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, California 90010
12 (213) 738-6749
ccameron@swlaw.edu
13
FOR APPELLANT: CASTILLO HARPER APC
14 BY: KASEY A. CASTILLO, ESQ.
3333 Concours Street
15 Building 4
Suite 4100
16 Ontario, California 91764
909) 466-5600
17 kasey@castilloharper.com
18 FOR HIRING AUTHORITY:
19 JONES & MAYER
BY: GREGORY P. PALMER, ESQ.
20 3777 North Harbor Boulevard
Fullerton, California 92835
21 (714) 446-1400
gpp@jones-mayer.com
22
23 Also Present: Kevin Waddell, Laura Waddell,
Captain Chris Staley, Christine Dietrick
24
25
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1 I N D E X
2
3 WITNESS REDIRECT
4 JEFFREY SMITH 1549, 1604, 1607, 1612, 1623
5 RECROSS
6 1600, 1606, 1622
7 KEITH STORTON REDIRECT RECROSS
8 1625
9
10 I N D E X TO E X H I B I T S
11
APPELLANT'S MARKED ADMITTED
12
HH 1575
13
II 1650 1653
14
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1 Wednesday, September 2, 2015
2 San Luis Obispo, California
3 --oo0oo--
4
5 THE HEARING OFFICER: We're going back on the
6 record, and I understand the appellant is calling
7 Lieutenant Smith as your next witness.
8 MS. CASTILLO: Correct.
9 THE HEARING OFFICER: Lieutenant Smith, you're
10 still under oath from the last time. Do you recall
11 that, sir?
12 THE WITNESS: Yes.
13 THE HEARING OFFICER: All right. You may
14 proceed.
15
16 REDIRECT EXAMINATION
17
18 BY MS. CASTILLO:
19 Q Thank you. Good afternoon.
20 A Good afternoon.
21 Q Since the last time you testified, did you
22 review anything to refresh your recollection?
23 A Just the notes that I had last time.
24 Q The notes?
25 A The --
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1 Q What notes were those?
2 A Things that were typed out from the interviews,
3 from Lieutenant Bledsoe and Proll.
4 THE HEARING OFFICER: You mean the transcripts?
5 THE WITNESS: Transcripts, yes.
6 THE HEARING OFFICER: The ones produced by the
7 department?
8 THE WITNESS: Yes, sir.
9 BY MS. CASTILLO:
10 Q Did you assist in the witness preparation for
11 this hearing at all?
12 A Assist in the witness preparation?
13 Q Right.
14 A What do you mean by that?
15 Q Well, did you attend any witness preparation
16 sessions?
17 A Yes.
18 Q And whose were those?
19 A Just my own.
20 Q That's it?
21 A Yep.
22 Q I am going to start with the audio from your
23 first interview, and then I'm going to ask some
24 questions as we go. Okay?
25 THE HEARING OFFICER: Could we refer to the
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1 proper written exhibits as we go along, too?
2 MS. CASTILLO: Yes. I believe that these have
3 previously been admitted both by the department as well
4 as the appellant in the department's case.
5 THE HEARING OFFICER: Is that 13 and 15?
6 MS. CASTILLO: Yes, 13 and 15.
7 THE HEARING OFFICER: The record will reflect
8 13 is an interview of Lieutenant Smith by
9 Lieutenant Bledsoe regarding the CAT shift event, and
10 15 is an interview by Lieutenant Bledsoe regarding --
11 well, also, CAT shift. So there were two, I guess.
12 BY MS. CASTILLO:
13 Q All right. Let me start with those. Do you
14 have those in front of you?
15 A Yes, I do.
16 Q Do you have appellant's exhibit book in front
17 of you, as well?
18 A I do.
19 Q Can you look at, please -- and for the record,
20 this is also audio that is reflected in appellant's now
21 admitted 'E'. I think it might be easier to go through
22 appellant's 'M', because there's line numbers, since
23 there are no line numbers in the department exhibit of
24 the transcript.
25 THE HEARING OFFICER: So that's Appellant's M
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1 and N; is that right?
2 MS. CASTILLO: Correct.
3 THE HEARING OFFICER: You're going to start off
4 with 'M' as in Mary?
5 MS. CASTILLO: Yes.
6 THE HEARING OFFICER: Okay.
7 (Audio Playing.)
8 BY MS. CASTILLO:
9 Q Why would Sergeant Pfarr had been calling to
10 inquire why Officer Waddell was working a CAT shift?
11 THE HEARING OFFICER: If you know.
12 THE WITNESS: I don't know.
13 (Audio Playing.)
14 BY MS. CASTILLO:
15 Q At this point, when you were having this
16 conversation with Sergeant Pfarr, you had returned this
17 phone call after you were mowing the lawn; right?
18 A Yes.
19 Q And starting off with the phone call,
20 Sergeant Pfarr told you that Officer Waddell had
21 indicated that he had spoken with you the previous day
22 and asked if he could come in late for the CAT shift;
23 right?
24 A Correct.
25 Q At that point was he no longer concerned why
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1 Officer Waddell was working the CAT shift, or that had
2 already been cleared up? Did he make any kind of
3 mention of that?
4 A I don't understand your question.
5 Q So, when you said earlier when you called
6 Sergeant Pfarr back, and he said, no worries, he had
7 worked it out, was that pertaining to why
8 Officer Waddell was working or why he was late? What
9 was that about?
10 A Well, I was calling him back, and at that point
11 he hadn't even -- when he left a message, he hadn't
12 talked to Kevin. When he said he had worked it out,
13 Kevin had showed up, or text him, whatever it was, and
14 he assumed what Kevin had told him was the truth. So
15 that's why he was saying he had worked it out. He had
16 not realized what Kevin told him at the time was a lie,
17 and he found that out through our conversation.
18 Q What did Sergeant Pfarr leave on your voice
19 mail?
20 A I don't recall. Just something to the fact he
21 was calling about Officer Waddell and his CAT shift.
22 Q When you say Sergeant Pfarr was a little upset,
23 he indicated, obviously, that he felt Sergeant -- or I'm
24 sorry, Officer Waddell had lied to him, you -- at this
25 point are still uncertain if this is a misunderstanding?
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1 A Well, I didn't have the conversation with
2 Kevin. So Sergeant Pfarr, I wanted to make sure it's
3 important that he was clear, and the information was
4 given. So, again, I wasn't involved in the conversation
5 or the text messages. So, for me, it's always making
6 sure things were clear and what was exactly said at that
7 point.
8 Q And you tell the interviewer at this point that
9 you discussed how to proceed from there. What does that
10 mean?
11 A Just what I said. That I wanted Sergeant Pfarr
12 to ensure that he was clear in his understanding and his
13 communication with Officer Waddell, and, again, get back
14 to me in terms of addressing the issue.
15 Q So did you tell Sergeant Pfarr to go back and
16 speak further with Officer Waddell?
17 A I don't recall exactly what I told him.
18 Q Well, you discussed how to proceed from there.
19 So what was that discussion about?
20 A I don't recall exactly what our discussion was.
21 Q Did you ever write a memo about what happened
22 on the 19th?
23 A No.
24 Q Why not?
25 A Because that was Sergeant Pfarr's job.
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1 Q And Sergeant Pfarr then calls you back; right?
2 A Yes.
3 Q And indicates that he has decided he's going to
4 go ahead and write a memo; correct?
5 A Correct.
6 Q This is something that he's decided he's going
7 to do after how much time has passed?
8 A I don't recall.
9 Q Well, you say something like later that day;
10 right?
11 A Yes.
12 Q Is it immediate?
13 A I don't recall.
14 Q You have no concept of time?
15 A I don't recall how much time had passed from
16 when we had our first conversation and our second
17 conversation.
18 Q Does he indicate what has made him -- or what
19 has prompted this decision between the two phone calls?
20 A That he was confident Waddell lied to him.
21 That based on the lie, he felt it needed to be
22 documented.
23 Q And, then, did you ask him to submit it to you?
24 To submit it to the captain? What happened from then?
25 A I don't recall if I told him. I mean, really,
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1 it has to go through the chain of command, so it would
2 have gone through me. I don't recall if I would have
3 told him that or not.
4 MS. CASTILLO: Go ahead and play. We are
5 starting at page 3 of Appellant's M, line 8.
6 (Audio Playing.)
7 MS. CASTILLO: I'm going to stop you at line
8 23.
9 Q What did Sergeant Pfarr tell you was the
10 content of their previous discussion?
11 A What previous discussion?
12 Q You told the investigator that he calls in
13 Officer Waddell, and he tells him that their previous
14 discussion was not accurate.
15 What did he tell you was the conversation
16 between him and Officer Waddell?
17 A I believe he -- I was just referring to his
18 conversation, and the statements Officer Waddell made
19 regarding getting permission from me to be late for his
20 shift.
21 Q On that date?
22 A Yes.
23 Q Were you ever told at any point by
24 Sergeant Pfarr that Officer Waddell wanted to do a
25 conference call with the three of you at that point?
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1 A I don't believe I was.
2 Q Have you ever heard that?
3 A Again, I don't recall Sergeant Pfarr saying
4 that.
5 Q If you had learned that Officer Waddell had
6 wanted to clear up the misunderstanding, as he saw it at
7 that point, would you have participated in the
8 conversation?
9 A No.
10 Q Why not?
11 A Because there's potential disciplinary actions,
12 and, at that point, I think, it's best we go through the
13 memorandum and appropriately handled it.
14 Q Even if it was just a misunderstanding like you
15 originally thought?
16 A I didn't think it was a misunderstanding. I
17 wanted to make sure it wasn't a misunderstanding.
18 Q Whether it was a misunderstanding at the time,
19 you weren't sure. So, if you could have determined at
20 that particular point by just having a conversation with
21 the three of you, you didn't want to do that?
22 A Based on what Sergeant Pfarr told me, it was
23 clear that he lied. So, again, I think it's proper that
24 a memorandum be committed, and it be handled
25 appropriately from there.
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
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1 Q So, based on what Sergeant Pfarr told you, it
2 was clear Officer Waddell lied?
3 A Yes.
4 Q That was because you have testified that you
5 believe that there was the potential for punitive
6 action?
7 A Well, disciplinary action.
8 Q And so you believed a memo needed to be
9 authored by Pfarr; right?
10 A Yes.
11 Q And, then, it go up the chain of command and be
12 handled that way; right?
13 A I guess, I'm confused by your question, because
14 you started off by talking about the conference calls.
15 Is it still related to a conference call, or are we
16 going back to a different subject now?
17 Q Well, I can clarify. So your testimony today
18 is that had Officer Waddell said to Sergeant Pfarr --
19 you're obviously at home -- "Let's call him right now
20 and clear this up," and you had learned of this, you
21 would have said, "No, I'm not participating in that"?
22 A I believe I would have said "no" at the time.
23 Q What would you have said today?
24 A Knowing that he blatantly lied, I would have
25 said, "no," because there was a potential for
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1 discipline.
2 Q And, again, knowing he blatantly lied was based
3 on one side of the story; right?
4 A It's what he told Sergeant Pfarr, yes. And
5 again, based on his rights, at this time, I would advise
6 against it, and I would still say, "Sergeant Pfarr
7 should submit a memo."
8 Q Even if he decided that he wanted to waive them
9 and speak to you; right?
10 A Based on where I was, and I was at home, yes.
11 Q So you have Pfarr submit a memo, and you expect
12 this to go through the process; right?
13 A Yes.
14 Q That is a Saturday; correct?
15 A Yes.
16 Q On Monday, you have a conversation with
17 Officer Waddell in your office, though; right?
18 A Correct.
19 Q Where he talks to you; right?
20 A I advised him he shouldn't at the time, but it
21 was up to him.
22 Q So what is the difference between the phone
23 call and the conversation in your office?
24 A The phone call never happened, so I didn't have
25 to make a decision at that time.
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
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1 Q So, then, my question is now, you did allow him
2 to speak to you in the office; right?
3 A Yes, I did.
4 (Audio Playing.)
5 BY MS. CASTILLO:
6 Q So I'm stopping -- it's page 5, Appellant's
7 Exhibit M at line 6.
8 Now, prior to this locker room encounter where
9 you exchanged greetings, and you were present with
10 Officer Waddell for some period of time, did you ever
11 address with him the lateness that you had been made
12 aware of by Sergeant Pfarr?
13 A No.
14 Q Did you address with him the movie watching
15 that you had been made aware of by Sergeant Pfarr?
16 A No.
17 Q Did Sergeant Pfarr ever bring up any other
18 issues, other than the lateness and movie watching?
19 A Not that I can recall.
20 Q How long were you in the locker room with
21 Officer Waddell for?
22 A No more than ten minutes.
23 Q Why didn't you take the opportunity to talk to
24 him about these issues you were made aware of?
25 A Because it's Sergeant Pfarr's responsibility.
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1 Q Weren't these issues that he was aware of while
2 Officer Waddell was working CAT?
3 A Yes, and he discussed the movie watching. He
4 confronted him when he caught him in the office watching
5 a movie.
6 Q What about the late --
7 A I don't know what conversation he has had
8 regarding that.
9 Q At that point you didn't know what
10 conversations he had had?
11 A With Officer Waddell, no, or I don't recall if
12 he shared that he had had some, I don't recall what we
13 had discussed.
14 Q Did you tell Officer Sergeant Pfarr to go and
15 have discussions with Officer Waddell?
16 A I don't remember if I did or I didn't.
17 Q You didn't instruct him to go and have specific
18 conversations with Officer Waddell about being late?
19 A I know we discussed it. I don't recall what my
20 specific instructions were with him.
21 Q Do you know about when Officer Waddell had been
22 late?
23 A Could you repeat the question?
24 Q The late issues that had been brought to your
25 attention by Sergeant Pfarr, do you know about when
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1 those occurred?
2 A No.
3 Q Were they fairly recent to the October 19th
4 date?
5 A They were before it. I don't know how much
6 before it. I just know they were things that
7 Sergeant Pfarr was concerned about.
8 Q So, at the point that you saw Officer Waddell
9 in the locker room, you did not think that, "Hey, this
10 is an opportunity for me to have a conversation with
11 him, an individual I keep assigning CAT overtime to,
12 about being timely and not flexing," and anything like
13 that?
14 A Well, your statement isn't accurate. He keeps
15 volunteering for those assignments, and those
16 assignments are given to him based on seniority, so I
17 really wasn't assigning him. And, again, it's the
18 sergeant's responsibility to address those things, and
19 that's what I had discussed with Sergeant Pfarr.
20 Q But if he was abusing the assignment, you could
21 not assign him overtime; correct?
22 A If there was a reason at the time, I could
23 choose to discuss that or make that an option. At the
24 time, based on the incidents, and what Sergeant Pfarr
25 had seen, we weren't there, and Sergeant Pfarr was
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1 addressing the issues.
2 Q Didn't Sergeant Pfarr go to you and ask that
3 Officer Waddell be reassigned away from the CAT shift?
4 A I don't recall if he asked that or not.
5 Q You don't -- we can start again on page 5 of
6 line 7, Exhibit M. This is page 6.
7 (Audio Playing.)
8 BY MS. CASTILLO:
9 Q At the point that he said he still wants to
10 talk to you, after that conversation took place, you
11 didn't write a memo regarding that either, did you?
12 A No.
13 Q That wasn't recorded; right?
14 A No.
15 Q Then you were interviewed for this particular
16 IA, approximately, a month later; correct?
17 A Correct.
18 Q Now, when he said he was willing to accept the
19 consequences that were to follow regarding the incident,
20 was he specific as to lying, or was he specific as to
21 lateness, or was that the end of his statement?
22 A I think he wasn't specific about anything.
23 MS. CASTILLO: Go ahead. Starting on page 6,
24 Exhibit M.
25 (Audio Playing.)
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
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1 MS. CASTILLO: So we stopped on line 12, page 6
2 of Appellant's M.
3 Q At the point that Officer Waddell gave you that
4 information, you already read the memo from
5 Sergeant Pfarr; right?
6 A I believe I had, yes.
7 Q Well, you have just referenced it in the
8 conversation that you've had when he walks into your
9 door; right?
10 A He had given it to me. I believe I had read
11 it. I don't recall when I read it exactly.
12 Q And you had the conversation with
13 Sergeant Pfarr where he's very upset, and he says he --
14 "he" being Waddell -- had blatantly lied in all of this;
15 right?
16 A We had a conversation, yes.
17 Q It's your belief at this point that there was
18 this lie that had already taken place; correct? Based
19 on what Pfarr told you? "Yes"?
20 A Based on what Sergeant Pfarr told me regarding
21 Kevin's statement, that he had spoken to me, that was a
22 lie, in my mind, because we had had no conversation.
23 Q Had you ever had an incident with
24 Officer Waddell in the past where there had been a
25 situation similar to this?
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1 A Similar to what?
2 Q This incident that you were faced with
3 regarding the texting and the two version of events?
4 A No.
5 Q So Officer Waddell tells you that he was
6 multi-tasking, and that Sergeant Pfarr misinterpreted
7 his text. At that point did you allow him to give you
8 an explanation?
9 A Well, wasn't that the explanation?
10 Q Are you asking me?
11 A Well, you just said what he said. I didn't ask
12 questions. I let Officer Waddell talk.
13 Q Was that the extent of everything
14 Officer Waddell said to you?
15 A Again, I generalized on what he said. I didn't
16 take notes, and it wasn't a formal interview. Like I
17 said, he wanted to come in and get something off his
18 chest. I advised him he probably shouldn't, but I
19 didn't ask any questions. It was just based on what was
20 in my statement and recording generalized.
21 Q So what he got off his chest was that he had
22 been texting and driving, and then he had a
23 misunderstanding with his sergeant; right?
24 A Correct.
25 Q And that's it?
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
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1 A That's what I recall. I don't remember exact
2 wording on that.
3 Q Then did you make any statements to him in
4 response? I see that you're reading. I'm just asking
5 what you are --
6 A I didn't ask any questions. I don't recall
7 what I said to him when he left. I'm sure I said
8 something to the fact that it would go through the
9 process.
10 MS. CASTILLO: We can start on page 6, line 13.
11 (Audio Playing.)
12 BY MS. CASTILLO:
13 Q Did Officer Waddell tell you that it appeared
14 that he had blatantly lied to Sergeant Pfarr?
15 A I didn't say -- that was my statement, I
16 believe, that I was making to Lieutenant Bledsoe.
17 Q So what you're saying is that Officer Waddell
18 indicated that he recognized that the two of you never
19 had a conversation?
20 THE HEARING OFFICER: You're nodding. You've
21 gotta speak up for the court reporter.
22 THE WITNESS: I'm sorry, yes. I apologize.
23 MS. CASTILLO: Page 6, line 21.
24 (Audio Playing.)
25 \\
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1 BY MS. CASTILLO:
2 Q When you talked to Sergeant Pfarr, he told you
3 that there was a face to face conversation between him
4 and Officer Waddell; correct?
5 A Correct.
6 Q At the point that you're talking to
7 Officer Waddell, or letting him talk at you in your
8 office, he -- he being Officer Waddell -- does not
9 recount anything about the conversation with
10 Sergeant Pfarr? The conversation, not the text
11 messages.
12 A I don't know what he recounted or didn't
13 recount.
14 Q You don't remember, because you didn't write it
15 down?
16 A Are you asking what he recalled during that or
17 what he told me?
18 Q When Officer Waddell came to your office on
19 Monday; right?
20 A Uh-huh.
21 Q You're nodding.
22 A Yes.
23 Q And there was the conversation that he wanted
24 to talk to you about the misunderstanding; right?
25 A Yes.
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
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1 Q You already have all this information, because
2 you have the memo and the text messages; right?
3 A I don't know that I had the text messages at
4 that time. I don't recall if I had them or not.
5 Q You don't know if they were added to the memo
6 that was submitted to you that same day?
7 A I don't even recall if I read the memo by then,
8 because it was earlier in the shift, so I may have, I
9 may have not. You're stating that I did all these
10 things. At the point that Officer Waddell came into my
11 office, I don't know if I was recalling based on the
12 conversation from Saturday, since it's my Monday at
13 work, or if I had already reviewed all of those
14 documents.
15 So I'm just trying to clarify. You're telling
16 me what I did, and I just want you to understand what
17 I -- I can't recall if I was recalling based on my
18 Saturday conversation, or because I reviewed the memo,
19 or if Officer Sergeant Pfarr had already provided me
20 with the printout of the text messages.
21 Q Officer Waddell came into your office,
22 according to your statement, and said it was a
23 misunderstanding of text messages; right?
24 A Yes.
25 Q And, then, you say, but, then, Sergeant Pfarr
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
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1 then said, "No, this is a conversation they had face to
2 face regarding the reason for him being late in a
3 conversation between he and I"?
4 A Yes.
5 Q Did you have another conversation with
6 Sergeant Pfarr?
7 A No. That's why I'm trying to clarify the text
8 messages thing, because I don't believe, at the time
9 Officer Waddell came into my office, I had already seen
10 the text messages. I was basing it on the conversation
11 that I had with Chad on Saturday.
12 So, when Officer Waddell said it was based on
13 text messages, and at some point I later talked with
14 Sergeant Pfarr, indicating I was upset, because, to me,
15 Officer Waddell came to my office and wasn't fully
16 truthful of his conversation with Chad.
17 Q Did you let him explain everything that had
18 happened between him and Jeff?
19 A I didn't ask questions. I let him tell me
20 whatever he wanted to get off his chest, and then we
21 were done. I didn't cut him off. I didn't ask
22 clarifying questions. I told him, "You probably
23 shouldn't talk to me." So whatever he had to get off
24 his chest, I let him, and our conversation was over.
25 Q Is that what he said, "Get off his chest"?
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1 A I don't recall exactly what he said.
2 Q So did Officer Waddell ever tell you that he
3 had also spoken to Sergeant Pfarr?
4 A I don't recall. From my recollection, and my
5 statement here, what I'm recalling is, he relied on the
6 facts that it was only a misunderstanding with the text
7 messages. I don't believe he went into details
8 regarding his conversation with Sergeant Pfarr.
9 Q Is that as you sit here today?
10 A Could you repeat the question, please?
11 Q When you say, "I don't believe that," is that
12 based on what you remember from today?
13 A Yes.
14 Q At some point did you stop him from speaking to
15 you further?
16 A I don't recall stopping him or not.
17 Q Did you ever tell him that he had lied?
18 A I believe I said something to the effect, like,
19 "In the notes that you told Sergeant Pfarr, you had a
20 conversation with me, and you and I both know that's not
21 true."
22 Q What happened to his demeanor when you said
23 that?
24 A I don't recall.
25 Q You don't recall what -- was his demeanor the
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1 same after you said that to him? You don't know?
2 A I don't recall his demeanor at the time.
3 Q What was his demeanor like at the beginning
4 when he was explaining this to you?
5 A Remorseful.
6 Q And then did it stay consistent?
7 A I would say, it was consistent throughout him
8 talking to me.
9 Q And then how did that conversation end?
10 A He left my office.
11 Q Did he say that's the end of the story, and
12 that's how the conversation ended, or did you end the
13 conversation?
14 A I don't recall.
15 Q When you say he wasn't specific about what he
16 was willing to accept the consequences for, and he was
17 remorseful, I know you said you weren't asking
18 clarifying questions, but at any point did he give an
19 indication or a statement as to what he was remorseful
20 for or willing to accept the consequences for at all?
21 A No.
22 (Audio Playing.)
23 BY MS. CASTILLO:
24 Q So a week later Officer Waddell was still not
25 on administrative leave; correct?
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
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1 A I don't believe he was, no.
2 Q He -- would it refresh your recollection that
3 he did not get placed on administrative leave until
4 sometime in early December?
5 A Then, no, he wasn't.
6 Q So a week later, in October, Sergeant Pfarr was
7 still concerned about what was going on with
8 Officer Waddell and this incident?
9 A I believe he was just asking what was happening
10 with the memorandum he submitted.
11 Q We've heard a lot about this movie issue in
12 this hearing. How many times did Sergeant Pfarr tell
13 you that he had caught Officer Waddell watching a movie?
14 A I believe it was just one time.
15 Q Did you ever get the suggestion from Officer --
16 I'm sorry -- Sergeant Pfarr that Officer Waddell was not
17 an appropriate officer to be working the CAT shifts?
18 A He may have expressed his concern. I don't
19 remember if he said he should or shouldn't, but I think
20 he possibly expressed concerns.
21 Q When would that have taken place?
22 A I don't recall. Before October 19th.
23 Q What was that based on?
24 A I'd be speculating. If you want me to
25 speculate.
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1 THE HEARING OFFICER: No speculation. Thank
2 you.
3 BY MS. CASTILLO:
4 Q Did you ask why your supervisor would have had
5 that opinion?
6 A Again, I'd be speculating. I don't recall our
7 exact conversation.
8 MS. CASTILLO: So now we will be looking at
9 next in line. Is this the one where we had admitted it
10 twice? I think it was 'I' and 'N'.
11 THE HEARING OFFICER: Yeah, there's one of
12 those.
13 MR. PALMER: Probably.
14 MS. CASTILLO: This is that one.
15 THE HEARING OFFICER: 'M' and 'N' or 'I' and
16 'N'?
17 MS. CASTILLO: I think it's 'I' and 'N'.
18 THE HEARING OFFICER: Yeah, that sounds right.
19 The record will speak for itself on this question.
20 MS. CASTILLO: You can follow along with the
21 'I'.
22 THE HEARING OFFICER: We're going to 'I' now.
23 MS. CASTILLO: Please.
24 THE HEARING OFFICER: Let me catch up here.
25 MS. CASTILLO: This is Appellant's I.
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1 (Audio Playing.)
2 THE HEARING OFFICER: I just want the record to
3 reflect that it's not Exhibit I. It's some other one.
4 'I' is the same as 'N'. Those are both about the
5 Bentley event.
6 MS. CASTILLO: It would be -- I apologize.
7 THE HEARING OFFICER: It would be Department
8 20. No?
9 MS. CASTILLO: It's Department 15. I think
10 that I may not have admitted it yet, so I have it right
11 here.
12 THE HEARING OFFICER: All right, 15.
13 MS. CASTILLO: This particular witness has
14 three transcripts. So this is Appellant's -- what are
15 we on now?
16 THE HEARING OFFICER: 'HH', I think, if we're
17 adding something.
18 MS. CASTILLO: Sorry about that.
19 THE HEARING OFFICER: It's all right. No
20 worries. Is there more we're going to listen to for
21 this one?
22 MS. CASTILLO: Yes. This one is only five
23 minutes long. Actually, I can skip this one. I'd like
24 that one admitted and moved, if I can.
25 THE HEARING OFFICER: Yeah. Is there any
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1 objection about admitting 'HH'?
2 MR. PALMER: No.
3 THE HEARING OFFICER: 'HH' is admitted.
4 MS. CASTILLO: We'll move straight in to the
5 last one. So this is Appellant Exhibit I.
6 MR. PALMER: Oh, this is 'I'? This is
7 Appellant's I.
8 MS. CASTILLO: I'm saving you the five minutes.
9 (Audio Playing.)
10 MS. CASTILLO: So we're stopping at page 3,
11 line 15.
12 Q At the time that you first heard about this,
13 you heard about it from Sergeant Pfarr; correct?
14 A Correct.
15 Q He told you about it where?
16 A In my office.
17 Q Was anyone else there?
18 A No.
19 Q And he indicated to you that while he was at
20 the scene, that Officer Waddell picked up one of the
21 hubcaps, and that, at the scene, Sergeant Pfarr had
22 asked him, "What are you doing?"
23 A Something to that effect, yes.
24 Q And that Officer Waddell had said, "I'm just
25 messing with you"?
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1 A Something to that effect, yes.
2 Q And there Chad had said, "Put that back with
3 the car. That's not funny"?
4 A Something to that effect. I was paraphrasing.
5 It was a conversation that we had a while ago, and I did
6 not remember the exact wording of the conversation.
7 Q Did you know why he was coming to you with this
8 information now?
9 A I believe -- I'm pretty sure what he had told
10 me is, he had shared some of this with
11 Lieutenant Bledsoe, and Lieutenant Bledsoe had told
12 him that -- or had indicated, "Does your supervisor know
13 about this?"
14 And Chad said, "No."
15 And that's why he was coming to tell me at that
16 time.
17 Q Did it have anything to do with special
18 assignments?
19 A Yes. At the time we had special assignments
20 for detectives. I believe Officer Waddell had put in
21 for one of the assignments, and Sergeant Pfarr was
22 sharing some of his concerns with Lieutenant Bledsoe.
23 Q Do you know why he went to Lieutenant Bledsoe
24 first and not you?
25 A Because Lieutenant Bledsoe was the
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1 investigative lieutenant who would make the decision on
2 special assignments.
3 Q So this was just extra information for the
4 decision maker as to who was qualified?
5 A I think it was expressing concerns regarding
6 Officer Waddell.
7 MS. CASTILLO: Starting at line 16.
8 (Audio Playing.)
9 MS. CASTILLO: We're stopping on line 24, page
10 3.
11 Q Sergeant Pfarr told you that Officer Waddell
12 had told him that he was messing with him, because he
13 was a new sergeant?
14 A No. I believe he told me that he believed
15 Officer Waddell was messing with him, because he was a
16 new sergeant.
17 Q Did he tell you where he got that belief?
18 A No.
19 Q Did he say it was because of the conversation
20 that Officer Waddell had with him where he specifically
21 told him that?
22 A I don't recall if he said that or not.
23 MS. CASTILLO: Page 3, line 24.
24 (Audio Playing)
25
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1 MS. CASTILLO: We're at 16, page 4.
2 Q When you had the conversation with
3 Sergeant Pfarr, this time period of the detective
4 assignments, do you, approximately, know when that was?
5 A No.
6 Q Do you have a season?
7 A I don't recall.
8 Q Do you have -- was it in the beginning of the
9 year?
10 A I'd be guessing. Would you like me to guess?
11 Because I, honestly, don't recall when he came into my
12 office and had this conversation with me.
13 Q Do you know what year it was?
14 A I don't recall.
15 Q So Officer -- sorry, Sergeant Pfarr tells you
16 at the time he believes it's a practical joke. Did he
17 tell you what changed his mind from the night that he
18 handled it, and it was a practical joke, to now he has
19 ethical concerns, and you, Lieutenant Smith, should know
20 about it? The time period.
21 A It's not what he told me. It's what he told
22 Lieutenant Bledsoe. And I think it was a totality of
23 circumstances, Kevin being late, the movie incident, and
24 just some things that he was seeing. I think it was the
25 totality of things that now, in his mind, maybe, it
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1 wasn't a practical joke, and he was intending to take
2 the rim or emblem, whatever he had taken.
3 Q Are you saying the movies and being late
4 happened before the detective assignments?
5 A Again, you're asking me what Sergeant Pfarr, so
6 there was a totality of incidents that came up that, I
7 believe, was after, but there were things that would
8 come up in Chad's mind that made him somewhat question
9 it. I don't exactly know what all those incidents are.
10 You'd have to ask Sergeant Pfarr.
11 Q Did you ask Sergeant Pfarr?
12 A At the time we had the conversation in our
13 office, he was still fairly convinced he was messing
14 with him.
15 Q So, when he is saying, "I'm now bringing this
16 up, because I have ethical concerns, and integrity
17 issues," he still told you at that time he was -- "but I
18 still think he was messing with me"?
19 A I don't know that he said "ethical concerns and
20 integrity issues." Those are words you're using.
21 Q I'm sorry, I'm referring to your line 14.
22 A Again, this is a conversation we had a long
23 time ago. In general, the conversation was, "This is
24 what happened. I am not sure if he was truly going to
25 take it or if he was still messing with me." Chad was
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1 leaning towards, and this is what our conversation
2 entailed, that Kevin, at that time, was joking with him
3 still.
4 Q What did you tell -- well, you didn't write a
5 memo about this one either; right?
6 A No.
7 Q What did you tell him to do with this
8 information?
9 A My recollection of the conversation was, I
10 asked him, "Do you feel it was handled?" you know, at
11 that time.
12 And Chad told me, "Yes."
13 I said -- I think I had asked, "Do we need to
14 do anything else?"
15 He said, "No, I feel I handled it."
16 In general, that's what our conversation
17 entailed. I don't remember specifically what was said
18 between he and I.
19 Q You never said, "Someone should tell a
20 captain"?
21 A I don't recall saying that, no.
22 Q Did you ever tell a captain?
23 A At some point, I think I told Lieutenant Proll
24 in our interview that I thought I might have shared the
25 information with Captain Staley, but I was unsure if I
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1 did or didn't.
2 Q Do you recall when you would have done that?
3 A No.
4 MS. CASTILLO: Okay. Four, 15, please.
5 (Audio Playing)
6 BY MS. CASTILLO:
7 Q At the time that Sergeant Pfarr brought up the
8 movie issue to you, he told you that he had the
9 conversation with Officer Waddell about the 15 minute
10 period; right?
11 A I believe he did, yes.
12 Q Because you were relaying it to the
13 investigator now; right?
14 A That's what I told Lieutenant Proll.
15 Q So that was also something that was handled at
16 the time by Sergeant Pfarr?
17 A Correct.
18 Q Then you bring up that there were a couple
19 times where he had come in late or left early; right?
20 A Yes.
21 Q And you are aware of this as his lieutenant;
22 right?
23 A I'm aware of what Sergeant Pfarr brought to my
24 attention, yes.
25 Q And these couple of times where he had come in
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1 late or had left early, were they on the CAT shift?
2 A I believe they were.
3 Q And is this the first time you're hearing of
4 it?
5 A What do you mean, is this -- I don't understand
6 your question.
7 Q You indicate that you believe it's because he
8 was doing a lot of overtime on the CAT team, and that he
9 had once caught him with the movie, and then the next
10 thing that you indicate to the investigator is that
11 there were a couple of times where he, Officer Waddell,
12 had come in late or left early; right?
13 A Yes.
14 Q And you reinforced with Chad to stay on top of
15 this; right?
16 A Yes.
17 Q Did you reinforce that with any of the other
18 sergeants?
19 A I don't recall if I sent an e-mail out to
20 everyone, or if it was just a conversation with Jeff.
21 Q So, at this point where there were a couple of
22 times where he had come in late or left early, are those
23 times that Chad had told you he had came in late or left
24 early, or were those times that you were aware that
25 Officer Waddell had come in late or left early?
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1 A I believe it was the information that Chad
2 provided me with.
3 Q Did you verify it one way or another?
4 A No.
5 Q Do you know when or why?
6 A Officer Waddell was late or left early? No, I
7 didn't have a conversation with him.
8 Q Do you know if any of those times that Chad had
9 specifically referenced to you were ones that, perhaps,
10 you had approved? They were ones you had, perhaps,
11 approved?
12 A In recalling some of the conversations, I just
13 think they wouldn't have been times that I would have
14 approved.
15 Q And why? So you can recall those
16 conversations. Tell us about those.
17 A Recall what conversations?
18 Q Ones that -- you just said, in recalling those
19 conversations, they wouldn't have been ones that I would
20 have approved. What were those conversations, and why
21 not?
22 A If we were having the conversation, more than
23 likely I hadn't approved it, so they would have either
24 been on speed shift or something would have been
25 discussed. If Chad is now bringing it to my attention,
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1 and it's fresh and at that time, I would have known if I
2 had approved something, and I would have corrected Chad
3 saying, "He had my permission." So, if he's informing
4 me that he left early or came in late, and Kevin didn't
5 have my permission at that time, I would have told Chad
6 to stay on top of it.
7 I think, in recalling the conversation, my
8 recollection is, Chad and any sergeant that works during
9 a shift, just so you understand, we don't punch people
10 in. We don't punch people out. We don't watch them
11 come and go. The concern was Chad would come in from
12 the field, and Kevin would already be gone, and it was
13 at the end of a shift or a few minutes prior to his
14 shift.
15 So not seeing him leave, that was a concern
16 that he was coming in earlier, and leaving a little bit
17 earlier, from my recollection of the conversations.
18 Q But your next sentence says, "If it's becoming
19 an issue, Kevin needed to get written up."
20 Were you not aware of this going on prior to
21 the time that you became made aware of the movie
22 incident, as he's telling you about this Bentley that
23 was a joke, but maybe not anymore?
24 A I did not understand that question. Sorry.
25 Q It's not your job to track the officers on CAT;
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1 right? That's the sergeant's job?
2 A What do you mean by "track"?
3 Q Like you just said, when they come and go, you
4 don't punch them in, do you?
5 A No.
6 MS. CASTILLO: We can start on page 5, line 13.
7 (Audio Playing)
8 MS. CASTILLO: We're stopping on page 7, line
9 3.
10 Q Who is Brian?
11 A Sergeant Amoroso.
12 Q You also talked to him about this?
13 A Like I said, I had asked him the question.
14 Q The one question?
15 A I don't recall asking him any others.
16 Q Do you -- so you were asking him about trophies
17 and collecting from accident scenes?
18 A Yes.
19 Q Where did you get that idea?
20 A Because he was -- Chad had brought up the
21 information about him taking the hubcap of the Bentley.
22 Q Did he say that he had said -- that he was
23 trying to get a trophy?
24 A It was just my terminology I used when I made
25 my statement to Lieutenant Proll.
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1 Q Then Brian said, "Nothing would surprise me
2 with Kevin." Did he elaborate on that at all?
3 A He may have elaborated on it. I don't really
4 recall what he said.
5 Q Were you investigating what Pfarr told you
6 about the Bentley, or what were you investigating when
7 you had this conversation with Brian?
8 A I wasn't investigating anything.
9 Q This was just a hallway conversation?
10 A Yeah, it was, actually.
11 Q Who else was there?
12 A I was sitting in my office, and, I believe,
13 Sergeant Amoroso was standing in the hallway.
14 Q Anyone else?
15 A Not to my recollection.
16 Q Was this right after you heard about this from
17 Sergeant Pfarr?
18 A No. I don't remember how close it was. It was
19 after I heard it from Sergeant Pfarr. I don't remember
20 when, though.
21 Q Why did this come up in casual conversation?
22 A Because Brian was a good friend of Kevin's, and
23 I was curious, based on what I heard from Chad, if he
24 had any knowledge if Kevin had any parts of cars from
25 traffic collisions he had investigated.
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1 MS. CASTILLO: Starting at four, on seven.
2 (Audio Playing)
3 MS. CASTILLO: We're at page 9, line 10.
4 Q So Sergeant Pfarr told you all of that;
5 correct?
6 A Again, I was recalling a conversation that took
7 place a long time, so it was based on my recollection.
8 I can't say that that's exactly what he told me.
9 Q But I guess, my -- to clarify, you didn't get
10 that information from anyone else; right?
11 A Correct.
12 Q You didn't hear about this story from any other
13 individual except for Sergeant Pfarr; right?
14 A Correct.
15 Q Then you were asked if Chad said that Kevin
16 texted him a photo of it or anything, and your answer
17 was, no, you don't remember that; correct?
18 A Correct.
19 MS. CASTILLO: Line 11, page 9.
20 (Audio Playing.)
21 BY MS. CASTILLO:
22 Q When you say "just through the grapevine," what
23 do you mean?
24 A I believe I was referring to
25 Lieutenant Bledsoe.
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1 Q Now, Lieutenant Proll never -- he's the only
2 other lieutenant; right?
3 A Correct.
4 Q So is he the only lieutenant who didn't hear
5 about any of this through the grapevine?
6 A Through me or Lieutenant Bledsoe?
7 Q Right.
8 A I don't know what he heard or didn't hear.
9 Q When you say, "It was kind of backed up on the
10 original lie," line 16, page 9 -- it says "why" in the
11 transcript, but we just heard you say "lie" -- what did
12 you mean by that?
13 A I think I was referring to him lying about his
14 reason for being late.
15 Q On the 10-19 date?
16 A Correct.
17 Q As you sit here today, you don't know if the
18 detective examinations -- or I'm sorry -- special
19 assignments were after October or before October?
20 A I guess, I'm confused about what your question
21 is.
22 Q Well, you said the original lie, and you're
23 referring to October 19th; right?
24 A Yes.
25 Q And you weren't sure there was going to be an
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1 IA. Were you referring to the Bentley or the CAT?
2 A The CAT night.
3 Q So the next part of your sentence is, "This
4 incident had come up, and that we're going to
5 potentially look into it, and that we're going to be
6 looking into it." What do you mean by that?
7 A Well, this IA started after the CAT IA, so I
8 think I was referring back to the CAT IA, and this
9 incident coming up, or the CAT incident, and then this
10 incident coming up.
11 Q So which is it?
12 A What I just said.
13 Q Well, you just said them both ways.
14 A What's your question? And I'll try to clarify.
15 Q My question is, your statement is, "I think it
16 was kind of backed up on the original lie, and then this
17 incident came up," and you were going to look into it
18 and acknowledge that the Bentley IA came after the CAT
19 IA; right? We're on the same page?
20 A Yes.
21 Q So is the only reason the Bentley IA became an
22 Internal Affairs investigation, is it because of the
23 texting miscommunication, blatant lie, whatever you want
24 to call it, between yourself, Officer Waddell and
25 Sergeant Pfarr? Is that what you're saying here?
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1 A No, that's not what I'm saying.
2 Q Then what are you saying here?
3 A I guess, what's your question? I'm confused.
4 What do you want to know?
5 THE HEARING OFFICER: We'll break it down for
6 you.
7 BY MS. CASTILLO:
8 Q If you can just, in your own words, explain
9 your sentence that starts on line 15 and ends on line
10 18.
11 A I think I was just referring to this IA that
12 started after the CAT IA.
13 Q Do you know why it was started after the CAT
14 IA?
15 A No.
16 Q So, when you are talking about the grapevine in
17 line 14, is the grapevine the Internal Affairs
18 investigation that's going on relative to the CAT IA?
19 A No.
20 Q Because right above that, the next time you're
21 asked about when you heard about it is through the
22 grapevine after Chad told you about it.
23 A It was a poor -- it was -- the choice of
24 verbiage I used at the time, I was referring to
25 Lieutenant Bledsoe, because, I believe,
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1 Lieutenant Bledsoe asked me if Chad came and talked to
2 me regarding the incident. So it was just a poor choice
3 of wording. I guess, if you're reading into it, it was
4 a reference to Lieutenant Bledsoe.
5 Q He didn't conduct the Bentley IA, so he wasn't
6 asking you to determine if you were going to be a
7 witness. So do you know why?
8 A Yeah, because he felt Chad should have brought
9 it to a supervisor's attention since he was bringing it
10 to his attention. So he was just making sure that Chad
11 had spoken to me regarding the information that Chad had
12 shared with him earlier.
13 Q So now we're back to when it was detective
14 exams?
15 A Well, that's what I have been talking about the
16 whole time.
17 Q So you're talking about detective exams --
18 okay.
19 MS. CASTILLO: Line 21.
20 (Audio Playing)
21 MS. CASTILLO: Page 10, line 11 is where we're
22 stopping.
23 Q So now you're talking about having a lot of
24 problems with Kevin over the weekends. What were those
25 problems?
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1 A Again, it was just -- nothing we haven't
2 already discussed. Him coming in late or leaving early
3 and being in the downtown office.
4 THE HEARING OFFICER: Let's take a couple
5 minute break.
6 (Recess.)
7 THE HEARING OFFICER: We're back on the record
8 continuing with the direct of Lieutenant Smith. Go
9 ahead, Ms. Castillo. Do you need the last question read
10 back? I can't remember. Was there a question pending?
11 (Record read.)
12 BY MS. CASTILLO:
13 Q So the only time that you were -- is it your
14 testimony that the only time you were aware that
15 Kevin Waddell ever left early or showed up late was by
16 virtue of Sergeant Pfarr reporting it to you?
17 A I don't recall if anyone else had brought
18 anything else to my attention.
19 Q You had said, "All the other stuff he had been
20 dealing with Kevin," and that's just what you were
21 referring to. Nothing outside of that; correct?
22 A Correct.
23 Q Okay. Did you ever review his timecards or
24 anything like that?
25 A Yes.
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1 Q Any issues with those?
2 A I don't recall any issues, no.
3 Q Can you give an approximation, and I know this
4 might be difficult, but if you have the impression that
5 this was a pattern that Sergeant Pfarr had experienced
6 with Officer Waddell, and there were instances that were
7 creating a pattern of this lateness or leaving early, or
8 being in the downtown office, do you have an approximate
9 number of times?
10 A No.
11 Q But was it more than five? More than ten?
12 A I'd be guessing, so I do not have an
13 approximate. I'd prefer not to guess.
14 Q But I mean, if it's a pattern, it's definitely
15 going to be more than one or two; right? That it's
16 going to be such a concern at this point; correct?
17 A Yeah, more than one or two, correct.
18 Q What time period are we talking about,
19 generally? Like a span.
20 A Prior to October 19th.
21 Q So from February to October is what we're
22 saying.
23 A During the time the overtime CAT shift was
24 going, if you want a time period.
25 Q Was it from the time period that Sergeant Pfarr
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1 was a sergeant to October?
2 A Yes.
3 Q And he got promoted sometime in February of
4 2013?
5 A I believe so.
6 Q So we're talking about that time period of
7 2-20-13 to 10-20-13. Would you agree?
8 A Yes.
9 MS. CASTILLO: So we are starting at line 11,
10 page 10.
11 (Audio Playing)
12 BY MS. CASTILLO:
13 Q Line 20 through 21, "problem officer," was that
14 officer -- I'm sorry, Sergeant Pfarr's term or yours?
15 A It was my term during the interview.
16 Q Was that your opinion, as well?
17 A Based on some of the things that Sergeant Pfarr
18 had shared with me, yes.
19 Q So it was only based on the opinion of
20 Sergeant Pfarr relayed to you?
21 A It was based on the information that
22 Sergeant Pfarr relayed to me.
23 Q Not your personal observations?
24 A Correct.
25 Q So, now, at the time of this interview, you
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1 shared this opinion?
2 A I did.
3 Q In October, did you share this opinion?
4 A In October when? To who?
5 Q In October of 2013, did you also share this
6 "problem officer" opinion?
7 A To who?
8 Q Did you share it? Did you have the same --
9 THE HEARING OFFICER: Just in general?
10 MS. CASTILLO: Yes.
11 THE WITNESS: I don't know that I shared it.
12 BY MS. CASTILLO:
13 Q I'm not saying communicate it. Did you also
14 have it?
15 A There was concerns regarding some of the
16 patterns that I was hearing from Sergeant Pfarr, yes.
17 Q Did you tell anyone in your chain of command?
18 A Not that I recall.
19 Q Did you tell Officer Waddell?
20 A I didn't talk to him, no.
21 Q Did anyone give him a notice that there was an
22 issue, maybe, with his performance?
23 MR. PALMER: Objection; relevance, misstates
24 the evidence, no foundation.
25 THE HEARING OFFICER: If it misstates the
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1 evidence, then you can correct it, but I'll allow it.
2 THE WITNESS: I know Sergeant Pfarr had talked
3 to him about some of his behaviors. I don't know what
4 the exact conversations were.
5 BY MS. CASTILLO:
6 Q Do you know, approximately, how many times
7 Sergeant Pfarr told you that happened?
8 A No.
9 Q Do you know when those conversations happened?
10 A No.
11 Q Do you know what they were about?
12 A No.
13 Q They weren't documented; right?
14 A No.
15 Q So Officer Waddell's e-files wouldn't contain
16 anything about, you know, these issues that you speak
17 of; right?
18 A It could.
19 Q But they wouldn't based on anything you would
20 have written; right?
21 A I don't do Officer Waddell's evaluations.
22 Q Do you sign off on them?
23 A At the time I wouldn't have signed off on
24 those, no.
25 Q Did you ever review them at all?
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1 A No.
2 Q Would you have given any input into them?
3 A I don't recall.
4 Q Do you recall if you did?
5 A I don't recall.
6 Q Did you endeavor to?
7 A I don't recall if I passed on information to
8 the sergeant or not.
9 Q Which sergeant would have been writing the
10 evaluations? That would have been Amoroso for a time
11 period; right?
12 A I believe so, yes.
13 Q Then it would have gone to Sergeant Pfarr;
14 right?
15 A No. For his quarterly evaluations,
16 Sergeant Amoroso would have completed them, and they
17 would have been reviewed by Lieutenant Proll.
18 Q But wouldn't Sergeant Pfarr have taken over the
19 downtown bike patrol position shortly?
20 A He did take over the downtown bike patrol
21 position.
22 Q If Officer Waddell had not been placed on
23 administrative leave, Sergeant Pfarr would have been his
24 direct supervisor; right?
25 A We're asking if it would have happened?
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1 Q Yes. Had you -- had the department not put him
2 on administrative leave and terminated him,
3 Sergeant Pfarr would have been his direct supervisor;
4 right?
5 A Correct.
6 MS. CASTILLO: Ten, 21.
7 (Audio Playing)
8 BY MS. CASTILLO:
9 Q We are stopping at page 11, line 12.
10 So you went to Officer -- I'm sorry -- Sergeant
11 Pfarr and asked him what was going on regarding the
12 Bentley case?
13 A I don't recall exactly how it went. I believe
14 I was in the sergeant's office, and he was working on
15 the memo, and I asked him what was going on, and he had
16 relayed to me that he was asked to complete a memo
17 regarding the incident.
18 Q You say you knew something was going on; right?
19 And you knew he was working on something?
20 A Again, I'm going on my recollection. I
21 remember being in the sergeant's office, and he, at the
22 time, was working on that memo, and I asked him what was
23 going on.
24 Q Did he ever -- we're at line 13, page 11.
25 (Audio Playing)
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1 BY MS. CASTILLO:
2 Q When you were referring to Keith, is that
3 Captain Storton?
4 A I'm sorry? Yes, yes.
5 Q You indicate that you feel like you might have
6 mentioned it to Captain Staley, but you can't confirm
7 that; right?
8 A Correct.
9 Q Now, were you aware that around this time is
10 when the texting CAT IA had been concluding? Did Chad
11 tell you that?
12 A Did who tell me that?
13 Q Chad Pfarr.
14 A No.
15 Q At the time that he was asked to write the
16 memo, did you tell Sergeant Pfarr to call
17 Officer Waddell back into his office from the field
18 after your third -- well, after your last phone call
19 with him on the 19th?
20 A I don't recall exactly what our conversation
21 was regarding how to follow up on it. I don't know -- I
22 don't even know if I knew Kevin was in the field. I
23 just know we discussed him following up on it.
24 Q You didn't tell Sergeant Pfarr to let
25 Officer Waddell know that you would be following up on
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1 it?
2 A I don't recall saying that.
3 MS. CASTILLO: I'm just checking my notes to
4 see if I have any extra. Can we have, like, a five
5 minute break?
6 THE HEARING OFFICER: Sure.
7 (Recess.)
8 THE HEARING OFFICER: We're back on the record.
9 Ms. Castillo, any more questions of this witness on
10 direct?
11 MS. CASTILLO: No.
12
13 RECROSS EXAMINATION
14
15 BY MR. PALMER:
16 Q Good afternoon.
17 A Good afternoon, sir.
18 Q I've just got a couple of areas. Do you
19 remember Ms. Castillo and you having a conversation
20 about the concept that Mr. Waddell shared that his texts
21 were simply misunderstood by Sergeant Pfarr?
22 A Yes, sir.
23 Q If this entire thing was truly just a
24 misunderstanding, do you think the administrative
25 investigation could have discerned it?
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
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1 MS. CASTILLO: Objection; calls for
2 speculation.
3 THE HEARING OFFICER: If you know, I'll allow
4 you to answer.
5 THE WITNESS: Would you mind asking the
6 question again?
7 BY MR. PALMER:
8 Q I'll try it again. It's often a different
9 question.
10 A I'm sorry.
11 Q If the entire episode here involving the CAT
12 shift event was truly just a misunderstanding, do you
13 think that could have been discovered and discerned by
14 the administrative investigation?
15 MS. CASTILLO: Same objections.
16 THE HEARING OFFICER: Overruled.
17 THE WITNESS: Yes.
18 BY MR. PALMER:
19 Q Turn to Exhibit 9 in my book. And before I
20 point to you a particular part to read, let me just set
21 this up.
22 You and Ms. Castillo had some conversation, on
23 your examination by her, about the details of when
24 Mr. Waddell was late, as shared to you by
25 Sergeant Pfarr, prior to October 19th. Do you recall
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1 that?
2 A Yes.
3 Q You had a little trouble with the details and
4 dates of how many times Sergeant Pfarr told you he was
5 late?
6 A Yes.
7 Q When you reviewed Sergeant Pfarr's memo about
8 the CAT shift event, do you recognize that memo as being
9 Exhibit 9 there?
10 A Yes, sir.
11 Q Did some of those details come back to your
12 mind?
13 A If I reviewed it, it might. I haven't had a
14 chance to review it.
15 Q Take a look at paragraph two on the first page
16 of Exhibit 9. It starts off on 10-12-2013. Actually,
17 the paragraph two and paragraph three, read those to
18 yourself, and tell me when you're done.
19 A Okay.
20 Q Now, those paragraphs speak for themselves, but
21 if we synthesize those two paragraphs down, does that
22 articulate that, according to Sergeant Pfarr anyway,
23 Mr. Waddell arrived late for the shift on October 12th,
24 2013?
25 A Correct.
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1 Q And left early?
2 A Correct.
3 Q Presumably, without any permission, or at least
4 Sergeant Pfarr did not know of any permission ahead of
5 time; correct?
6 A Correct.
7 Q Does that help refresh your recollection as to
8 at least one of the events Sergeant Pfarr told you about
9 him being late and leaving early?
10 A Yes.
11 Q Were there others?
12 A I believe there was.
13 Q Before October 12th, or do you know?
14 A I don't know.
15 Q This event articulated by Sergeant Pfarr in his
16 memo, on October 12th, now using that as a benchmark, do
17 you have a recollection of when Sergeant Pfarr told you
18 about this?
19 MS. CASTILLO: About? I'm sorry.
20 BY MR. PALMER:
21 Q About the events on October 12th.
22 A I assume it was, probably, the following -- you
23 know, the following week when I came into work.
24 Q October 12th would have also been a Saturday?
25 A I believe so. I'm not sure.
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1 Q I think, since we've established October 19th
2 was a Saturday, it stands for reason.
3 A Good point.
4 Q Was that the same period of time when you were
5 working -- were you working on the weekend?
6 A No.
7 MR. PALMER: Nothing further.
8 THE HEARING OFFICER: Anything else?
9 MS. CASTILLO: Yes.
10
11 FURTHER REDIRECT EXAMINATION
12
13 BY MS. CASTILLO:
14 Q This 10-12 incident that would have been
15 relayed to you in the week period between the 10-19
16 period, what was your schedule like during that week?
17 A I work a 980, so I could have been working
18 Monday through Thursday or Monday through Friday. I
19 don't recall.
20 Q Your schedule would have overlapped
21 Sergeant Pfarr's when?
22 A I don't recall what days he was working.
23 Q Would you have learned of this dressing out and
24 leaving early in person or over the phone?
25 A Either way.
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
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1 Q Could he have called you at home?
2 A He could have.
3 Q Does he often call you at home to report these
4 kind of things?
5 A I do get calls at home for work related
6 incidents, yes.
7 Q From Sergeant Pfarr?
8 A From all my sergeants.
9 Q Well, from Sergeant Pfarr, too?
10 A I don't know how many times, but he has called
11 me at home.
12 Q After -- okay. Mr. Palmer asked you about
13 whether or not this was a misunderstanding, if it would
14 have fleshed out in this investigation. Do you recall
15 that question?
16 A Yes.
17 Q Did you read the file?
18 A No.
19 Q Did you read all this stuff in his egg crate?
20 A No.
21 THE HEARING OFFICER: God, I hope not.
22 MR. PALMER: I have.
23 BY MS. CASTILLO:
24 Q When you read this memo from Sergeant Pfarr,
25 who got information from Officer Inglehart, et cetera,
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1 did you ever talk to the other officers who worked with
2 Officer Waddell about these patterns that Pfarr had
3 observed?
4 A No. Because now potential for investigation,
5 and I wouldn't have gotten involved at this point.
6 Q Are we talking about the investigation into
7 what happened on the 19th, or are we talking about the
8 investigation of leaving early or coming in late?
9 A We're talking about the investigation regarding
10 him lying to Sergeant Pfarr.
11 MS. CASTILLO: And then -- I have nothing
12 further.
13 THE HEARING OFFICER: Anything on re-cross?
14 MR. PALMER: Just one.
15
16 RECROSS EXAMINATION
17
18 BY MR. PALMER:
19 Q Did you understand the premise of my
20 investigation question was based not upon the specifics
21 of this investigation, but an administrative
22 investigation in general?
23 A Yes.
24 Q That an administrative investigation, in
25 general, one would expect that would be a search for the
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1 truth?
2 A Yes.
3 Q If it was a misunderstanding, an
4 investigation -- administrative investigation, in
5 general, done well enough would, hopefully, be able to
6 figure that out?
7 A Yes.
8 Q Just a general question, and that's how you
9 understood it?
10 A Yes.
11 MR. PALMER: Nothing further.
12 THE HEARING OFFICER: Anything else?
13
14 FURTHER REDIRECT EXAMINATION
15
16 BY MS. CASTILLO:
17 Q Have you ever conducted an administrative
18 investigation?
19 A I have.
20 Q How many?
21 A A few. I don't know how many.
22 Q Were you conducting them according to the 2013
23 Lexipol policy or the 2014 Lexipol policy?
24 A I have no idea what policy was in place.
25 Q Are they different?
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1 A There's been many changes made.
2 Q Well, I mean, according to the format for the
3 Internal Affairs investigations.
4 A There's been changes made. I don't know what
5 the exact changes are.
6 Q Or when they happened; right?
7 A You just said '13 and '14, so I assumed you're
8 talking about the two changes throughout the year, but
9 we get updates all the time on Lexipol, so they're
10 ongoing changes with Lexipol.
11 Q Do you know if anything changed in regards to
12 the IA format?
13 A I don't know anything specific.
14 Q Had you heard that anything had?
15 A I -- referencing what?
16 Q I don't know.
17 MS. CASTILLO: I don't have anything else.
18 THE HEARING OFFICER: Anything else from the
19 department?
20 MR. PALMER: No.
21 THE HEARING OFFICER: I have a couple
22 questions, and I'm going to apologize in advance if this
23 is already in the record somewhere, but this is day
24 eight, and I've only got four transcripts, so I may have
25 missed it.
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1 Lieutenant Smith, correct me if I'm wrong, but
2 the gist of your earlier testimony is that you didn't
3 give permission to Officer Waddell to report late on
4 October 18th, to report late on October 19th; is that
5 right?
6 THE WITNESS: That's correct.
7 THE HEARING OFFICER: If I understand his
8 position, it's a little more nuanced than that. And to
9 that end, I'd like to have you take a look at
10 Department's Exhibit 21, page 7. Wait for everybody to
11 catch up. A little over halfway down the transcript
12 says for Officer Waddell, "I didn't say to him that he
13 gave me permission for that day."
14 MS. CASTILLO: I'm sorry.
15 THE HEARING OFFICER: Are you with us? Page 7.
16 MS. CASTILLO: I'm on page 7.
17 THE HEARING OFFICER: A little over halfway
18 down where it says, "Waddell," and there's some "I's."
19 MS. CASTILLO: Okay.
20 THE HEARING OFFICER: And so it says, "I didn't
21 say to him," which, presumably, means Sergeant Pfarr,
22 "that he," which, presumably, means you, "gave me
23 permission for that day. I said that Smith is okay with
24 me coming in late. I believe that's how I said it.
25 Smith is okay with me coming in late."
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1 Do you see where it says that?
2 THE WITNESS: Yes, sir.
3 THE HEARING OFFICER: Were you okay with him
4 coming in late?
5 THE WITNESS: Absolutely, not, unless he was
6 given permission. There's not a general rule that I
7 have with any of my officers that they come in or leave
8 whenever they want.
9 THE HEARING OFFICER: So go to the next page on
10 page 8 of the same document, Department 21, and it says
11 towards the top from Lieutenant Bledsoe, "So has
12 Lieutenant Smith given you permission in the past, on
13 past dates, to come in late?"
14 And Officer Waddell says, "Yes."
15 Do you see where it says that?
16 THE WITNESS: Yes.
17 THE HEARING OFFICER: Then he asks, "How many
18 other times?"
19 And Officer Waddell says, "There's been, I can
20 think of two times in particular where I've sought
21 permission to come in."
22 Do you see where it says that?
23 THE WITNESS: Yes.
24 THE HEARING OFFICER: Is that accurate, as far
25 as you know?
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1 THE WITNESS: Again, I know he's asked. I try
2 to be flexible, and I've had other officers in the past
3 ask to come on late -- come in late, and it's always
4 based on a specific date and time. And, usually, I try
5 to be flexible, you know, with my officers, if it allows
6 me to be.
7 THE HEARING OFFICER: But my question is, is it
8 two times? Is it more? Is it less? Do you know?
9 THE WITNESS: Sorry, sir, I don't know.
10 THE HEARING OFFICER: So, then, the next
11 statement there from Lieutenant Bledsoe, or the next
12 question says, "So when he told you you could come in
13 late on those other occasions, did you think that was a
14 blanket statement that it's okay that you come in late
15 all the time, then?"
16 And, then, Officer Waddell's answer is, "That's
17 kind of the way I construed the situation, and I think
18 that that's my mistake in overstepping my bounds," et
19 cetera. Do you see where it says that?
20 THE WITNESS: Yes, sir.
21 THE HEARING OFFICER: Did you give him blanket
22 permission to come in as he says here?
23 THE WITNESS: No.
24 THE HEARING OFFICER: Do you give anybody
25 blanket permission?
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1 THE WITNESS: No.
2 THE HEARING OFFICER: So, Ms. Castillo, do you
3 have any more questions?
4 MS. CASTILLO: I do.
5 THE HEARING OFFICER: Go ahead.
6
7 FURTHER REDIRECT EXAMINATION
8
9 BY MS. CASTILLO:
10 Q So do you recall testifying on July 9th?
11 A Yes.
12 Q Do you recall testifying on cross-examination
13 with me?
14 A I do.
15 Q Do you recall saying that you try to be
16 accommodating to officers, and "11: 15 is okay, 11: 30 is
17 okay, but after 11: 30 is probably a problem; right?"
18 And your answer is, "Could be, yes."
19 A I recall something to that effect, yes.
20 Q Is that an example of you being flexible?
21 A So you're asking -- again, the direct question
22 is, "Is coming in at 11: 00 okay?"
23 And my answer was, "Yes."
24 And then, "Coming in at 11: 30 is okay?"
25 Q No. It says, "11: 15 is okay. 11: 30 is okay.
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1 But after 11: 30 is probably a problem; right?"
2 And your answer is, "Could be, yes."
3 A Yeah, could be.
4 Q That's still your testimony?
5 A Again, like I said, it wasn't a definite. It
6 depended on the circumstances. So it could be a problem
7 if it was -- if that was the case. But, again, I take
8 things into consideration.
9 THE HEARING OFFICER: Well, you have gotta --
10 it was a "yes" or "no" question.
11 Could you read it back?
12 (Record read.)
13 THE HEARING OFFICER: Is that still your
14 testimony?
15 THE WITNESS: Yes.
16 BY MS. CASTILLO:
17 Q So that's you being flexible?
18 A Yes.
19 Q And when -- then your testimony would also be
20 on that date that, it was only a problem if it's a
21 consistent thing; correct? Would you still agree with
22 that?
23 A What was the question?
24 Q Well, okay. The first question that I -- I can
25 read the whole thing. On direct you said you tried to
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1 be accommodating. "11: 15 is okay. 11: 30 is okay. But
2 after 11: 30 is probably a problem; right?"
3 And your answer was, "Could be, yes."
4 My question is, "Is that only a problem for
5 you, or is it not a problem for other supervisors?"
6 And your answer was, "When I say it was
7 probably a problem, it would be a problem if it was a
8 consistent thing. On occasion, if it happened, I tried
9 to be accommodating."
10 Do you still agree with that?
11 A Yes.
12 Q Now, Officer Waddell has never used the word
13 "blanket" to you, in terms of saying, "It's my
14 understanding, Lieutenant Smith, that I have blanket
15 permission to flex my schedule a little here and there,
16 and tweak it at will"? Correct?
17 A Yeah, we've never had that conversation.
18 Q And these officers are on overtime shifts;
19 right?
20 A Correct.
21 Q If you found that they were abusing their
22 ability to be on time, or consistent in their
23 scheduling, you could just not schedule them for this
24 overtime; right?
25 A That might be one possibility.
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
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1 Q After October 19th, you scheduled
2 Officer Waddell for almost 150 more -- or I'm sorry.
3 Yeah, 150 more hours of overtime on this; right?
4 A Right.
5 Q We talked about that. Okay.
6 And that's when you believed him to be a
7 problem officer with this potential pattern that you
8 personally hadn't observed; right?
9 A I believed there was some issues that were
10 brought to my attention by Sergeant Pfarr that were
11 concerning, and Sergeant Pfarr was asked to take care of
12 them.
13 Q After the 19th, did you hear about any other
14 issues?
15 A No.
16 Q And so, after the 19th, whatever
17 misunderstanding that Officer Waddell had about the, you
18 know, somewhat flexibility of, "Maybe, I can come in a
19 little bit late, maybe I can come in a little bit
20 early," you never heard about that again, did you? Not
21 from Sergeant Pfarr; right? It being an issue?
22 A It never had been discussed. I think -- ask
23 the question again, because you're making a statement
24 that has not been made.
25 Q I can start over. It's fine.
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1 From the time period of October 19th, when this
2 misunderstanding, according to Officer Waddell,
3 occurred, to December 12th, when he got put on
4 administrative leave, he worked another 150 hours on
5 CAT; right?
6 A Correct.
7 Q You assigned him those hours; right?
8 A He volunteered for those hours.
9 Q You gave them to him; right?
10 A Correct.
11 Q During those periods, those two months,
12 roughly; right? Did you hear of another incident where
13 Officer Waddell was not on time or -- well, we'll just
14 start with on time.
15 A No.
16 Q Did you hear of another incident where he took
17 a liberty that he was not given by you?
18 A No.
19 Q If you had witnessed Officer Waddell come in
20 late for his shift on CAT, what would you have done if
21 he had not called you on the phone or sent you a text,
22 and you were the watch commander, and you had not had
23 this middleman sergeant to deal with, what would you
24 have done?
25 A Talked to him about it.
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1 MR. PALMER: Speculation.
2 THE HEARING OFFICER: I'm going to allow it.
3 You can answer.
4 THE WITNESS: Discussed it with him.
5 BY MS. CASTILLO:
6 Q Because he didn't call you and say, "I'm
7 running late. I need a little extra time." Right?
8 A Yes.
9 Q And if you found out that he left a little
10 early one day, because he had childcare issues, or
11 whatever, what would you have done?
12 A Again, confronted him regarding it. Honestly,
13 if I would have found out that, I would have talked to
14 his sergeant and told his sergeant to handle it.
15 Q What does "handle it" mean at that point? What
16 would you have expected?
17 A It depends.
18 Q If it's a pattern; right?
19 A Yeah.
20 Q But if it's not a pattern, are we talking about
21 some serious discipline?
22 A Him leaving early one time?
23 Q Yeah.
24 A No.
25 Q Or running late?
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1 A One time?
2 Q One or two times without --
3 A Second time he could get a written memo for it.
4 Q I said serious discipline.
5 A What's that?
6 Q I said serious discipline.
7 A For being late twice?
8 Q Let's even say, five times.
9 A It depends. By that time, it could be more of
10 a serious investigation, and if it's been five times,
11 and it's become a pattern, and we have concerns,
12 something, he could get a day off.
13 Q A day off; right?
14 A I'm speculating. It's not my decision to make.
15 Q He could even stop being assigned to overtime;
16 right?
17 A Potentially.
18 Q But those are -- are those, probably, the worst
19 things that could happen to him for about that type of
20 pattern, based on you being in that supervisory position
21 with that specific set of facts?
22 A Based on that question, it's not my decision to
23 make.
24 Q Have you ever read the transcript of
25 Officer Waddell's interview to Internal Affairs?
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
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1 A No.
2 Q And Sergeant Pfarr had advised you, because
3 you've testified about it, and we've heard it in your
4 audio today, that you were aware, at least through
5 Sergeant Pfarr, that, occasionally, Officer Waddell
6 would come in a little early or leave a little late;
7 right?
8 A I had heard there was incidents.
9 Q And knowing that Sergeant Pfarr would have been
10 the watch commander, and you would have been the
11 supervisor, and, obviously, if Sergeant Pfarr was the
12 direct supervisor at that time, and he's bringing it to
13 your attention, neither of you would have asked in
14 advance for permission; right?
15 A Neither of us had been asked in advance.
16 Q That's the assumption; right?
17 A Sure, yes.
18 Q So, when Lieutenant Bledsoe, on page 8, asked
19 the question that the hearing officer just asked you
20 about, as he asked Officer Waddell about coming in late
21 on those other questions and blanket statements, do you
22 have any idea where this blanket concept came from?
23 A What's your question?
24 Q Do you have any idea where the blanket concept
25 came from?
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
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1 THE HEARING OFFICER: If you know.
2 THE WITNESS: I don't even know what she's
3 referring to right now. She said page 8, so I would
4 probably need to read it.
5 THE HEARING OFFICER: I think she was referring
6 to the testimony that I was quoting from when we were
7 having our discussion earlier. Is that right?
8 THE WITNESS: Can I clarify the blanket
9 statements that he can come and go?
10 THE HEARING OFFICER: Yeah. Do you know where
11 that came from?
12 What I quoted to you was a question that got
13 put to Officer Waddell by Lieutenant Bledsoe. That's
14 where it came from, what I was quoting from.
15 THE WITNESS: And Officer Waddell said there
16 was a blanket statement?
17 THE HEARING OFFICER: I think that's in
18 dispute. I think that the words were suggested, as far
19 as I know, by Lieutenant Bledsoe. Whether it came out
20 of Officer Waddell's mouth, I have no idea.
21 THE WITNESS: I don't know where the statement
22 came from.
23 BY MS. CASTILLO:
24 Q Is it your understanding that, in the past, if
25 officers had come in late, that they would add
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
Administrative Record Page 2717
ARBITRATION, VOL. 8, 9-2-15, P.M. SESSION 9/2/2015
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1 additional time on the end of their shift to flex to
2 make up that period of time that they were assigned to
3 the CAT shift?
4 MR. PALMER: Objection; vague and ambiguous.
5 With or without specific permission?
6 THE HEARING OFFICER: If you understand the
7 question, you can answer.
8 BY MS. CASTILLO:
9 Q I'm talking about when they worked.
10 A It's a possibility. I don't recall if somebody
11 did or didn't. But I mean, if somebody said, "Hey, I'm
12 going to be 30 minutes late. Can I stay an extra 30
13 minutes?" I may have approved that.
14 Q Is the expectation that they work four hours?
15 A The expectation when it's posted is that they
16 work the hours that are posted.
17 Q Are they -- when they do their timecard, do
18 they write in their hours, or do they write in how many
19 hours?
20 A The way our timecard system works, you fill in
21 how many hours you worked, whether you're sick, on
22 vacation, show up late for work. You know, just how
23 many hours you've worked. That's how our timecard
24 program works.
25 Q So, if you are -- I don't have anything else.
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
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1 THE HEARING OFFICER: Cross-examination?
2
3 RECROSS EXAMINATION
4
5 BY MR. PALMER:
6 Q Sir, as you understand the issues in this case,
7 being one of the witnesses in this matter, is the issue
8 in this case that Mr. Waddell was a half hour late to
9 his shift on October 19th, 2013?
10 A No.
11 MS. CASTILLO: Objection; relevance and calls
12 for speculation.
13 THE HEARING OFFICER: Well, it's calling for
14 the legal theory, but I'll allow this one.
15 BY MR. PALMER:
16 Q Your answer was?
17 A No.
18 Q Is the issue in this case, so far as to the
19 extent you understand it, that he lied to Sergeant Pfarr
20 about you giving him permission to do so?
21 A Yes.
22 MR. PALMER: Nothing further.
23 THE HEARING OFFICER: Anything else from
24 redirect?
25 \\
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
Administrative Record Page 2719
ARBITRATION, VOL. 8, 9-2-15, P.M. SESSION 9/2/2015
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1 FURTHER REDIRECT EXAMINATION
2
3 BY MS. CASTILLO:
4 Q When were you -- do you remember when you were
5 interviewed regarding the Bentley IA?
6 A That was December. I don't remember. I'd be
7 guessing.
8 Q Do you know why you were never asked about the
9 statements Officer Waddell made during his interview
10 about the conversations that were had between he and
11 Sergeant Pfarr and he and you on the 19th? Do you have
12 any insight into that?
13 A I have no idea what you want to know. Could
14 you repeat the question or clarify?
15 Q You were interviewed three times; right?
16 A Correct.
17 Q You were never asked about the statements that
18 we were just asking you about in this transcript; right?
19 A What statements?
20 Q Any of Officer Waddell's statements regarding
21 what was said in his official interview; right?
22 A Which interview? There's three interviews that
23 I'm aware of.
24 Q His interview regarding the CAT event.
25 A Again, I'm confused on what you're asking me.
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
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1 Q On the three occasions that the department
2 chose to interview you, they never asked you about what
3 he said in his interview; right?
4 A How would I have known what he said in his
5 interview?
6 Q Well, they gave everyone else the content of
7 everyone else's interviews.
8 A I don't know what you're talking about.
9 MS. CASTILLO: I don't have anything else.
10 THE HEARING OFFICER: Anything else?
11 MS. CASTILLO: No.
12 THE HEARING OFFICER: Anything on re-cross?
13 MR. PALMER: No.
14 THE HEARING OFFICER: Can we excuse this
15 witness?
16 MR. PALMER: Yes.
17 THE HEARING OFFICER: Thank you, Lieutenant. I
18 appreciate you joining us. You're excused. Off the
19 record.
20 (Recess.)
21 THE HEARING OFFICER: We're back on the record.
22 We're re-calling Captain Storton.
23 You're still under oath.
24 THE WITNESS: Thank you. Yes.
25 THE HEARING OFFICER: Very good.
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
Administrative Record Page 2721
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1 You may proceed.
2
3 REDIRECT EXAMINATION
4
5 BY MS. CASTILLO:
6 Q Good afternoon.
7 A Good afternoon.
8 Q We've heard testimony during this hearing that
9 some of the policies and procedures in the department
10 had changed during the time that Officer Waddell was
11 under investigation.
12 Are you familiar with those policies that
13 changed?
14 A Not specifically.
15 Q You did cite that a policy specifically did
16 change, which removed the Internal Affairs investigation
17 that you were originally assigned to conduct from your
18 oversight to that of Captain Staley. Do you remember
19 that?
20 A That was passed on to me through Chief Gesell.
21 It was his interpretation of the policy.
22 Q I think at the last hearing you were actually
23 able to cite the section. Do you recall that?
24 A I don't remember at the moment.
25 Q Okay. But there was a section that was passed
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
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1 on to you by the Chief; right?
2 A Correct.
3 Q And can you kind of detail what that section,
4 essentially, said?
5 A I think, based on what I had discussed last
6 time, it had to do with keeping the line of supervision
7 within each bureau, whether it was the Administrative
8 Bureau or the Operations Bureau, and because this
9 happened to an employee that was working under the
10 Operations Bureau, that's when Chief Gesell decided to
11 transfer the ownership of the investigation to that side
12 of it.
13 Q But that was after your investigation had
14 already been done, and you had already made your
15 recommendation; right?
16 A Yes.
17 Q And that policy had actually already been in
18 effect; correct?
19 A It was in effect at that time?
20 Q Yes.
21 A Yes.
22 Q So that policy only was implemented after he
23 didn't like your recommendation; right?
24 MR. PALMER: Objection; speculation,
25 argumentative.
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
Administrative Record Page 2723
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1 THE HEARING OFFICER: Overruled. If you know.
2 THE WITNESS: I'm a little confused by your
3 question. When you say policy, we have written policies
4 that are in place that provide us with the guidelines
5 for certain operational administrative aspects of the
6 department. So I was advised of the policy by
7 Chief Gesell at that time. So that policy is a written
8 document that is in place.
9 BY MS. CASTILLO:
10 Q That policy was at all times in place when you
11 were first assigned the Internal Affairs investigation;
12 right?
13 A Correct.
14 Q And as you conducted it; right?
15 A Correct.
16 Q And, then, as you made an executive
17 recommendation; right?
18 A Yes.
19 Q And, then, he expressed his displeasure with
20 your recommendation; correct?
21 A Yes.
22 Q And then he invoked the policy that said it
23 should go under the Operations Captain; right?
24 A Yes, that was his choice.
25 Q Okay. And what happened to your investigation?
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
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1 A As far as the physical documentation?
2 Q Right.
3 A It was in a file and no longer under my
4 control. I'm not certain unless it's retained at the
5 P.D.
6 Q And did -- do you know that if memorandums that
7 were originally written to you had their -- had who they
8 were directed to, the name changed, or did the whole
9 investigation just start over; do you know?
10 A I don't know. Well, I should clarify. The
11 investigation did not start over. There was still
12 information there.
13 Q What additional information, or do you know if
14 additional information came out of the new investigation
15 that was now under the command of Captain Staley?
16 A I'm not certain on that.
17 Q Do you have any thoughts on it?
18 A I don't have any specific thoughts, no.
19 Q Do you know -- do you have any ideas as to if
20 anything was done, after your executive recommendation,
21 additional?
22 A I can speculate that, maybe, some other
23 conversations took place, but I don't know specifically.
24 Q Okay. Would that include the conversation that
25 you had with Sergeant Pfarr asking him about penalty?
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
Administrative Record Page 2725
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1 A Can you elaborate? I'm not sure what you mean.
2 Q Didn't you have a conversation with
3 Sergeant Pfarr about what he thought potentially the
4 motivation was after the IA was done?
5 A I had a conversation with Sergeant Pfarr early
6 in February -- I'm sorry, early in December, when he
7 advised me of the circumstances of the traffic accident
8 investigation. Is that the one you're referring to?
9 Q I think so. How is it -- but isn't it that
10 that conversation took place, because you were asking
11 him about what he thought should happen in terms of your
12 investigation, as this IA that you had been in charge of
13 was now coming to a conclusion?
14 A The information provided to me with
15 Sergeant Pfarr, during that discussion in December, was
16 information he felt that he needed to share. It wasn't
17 prompted by me. I wasn't searching for information.
18 But he felt there were circumstances that existed with
19 the Bentley investigation that were concerning to him.
20 So I felt it was my duty to follow up on that and
21 provide that information to Chief Gesell, who is my
22 supervisor, to determine what was the next best course
23 of action.
24 Q So how did this conversation happen? Did you
25 call him into your office?
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
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McDANIEL REPORTING Page: 1630
1 A He came to my office on his own.
2 Q At this point was Officer Waddell on
3 administrative leave?
4 A I don't believe so.
5 Q But wasn't your investigation almost -- well,
6 you were at the penalty phase, though; right?
7 A For the first investigation?
8 Q Right.
9 A Yes.
10 Q So he was placed on administrative leave on
11 December 12th.
12 THE HEARING OFFICER: You're asking him, or
13 you're telling him?
14 BY MS. CASTILLO:
15 Q Just to give you kind of a context, if you're
16 at the penalty phase, he's been placed on administrative
17 leave after his Internal Affairs investigation or
18 interview, that would have meant that you were now
19 making your executive recommendation; right?
20 A I'm trying to remember the specifics of the
21 dates, and I can't clearly remember at the moment.
22 Q So he comes to you during this and offers
23 additional information, and says what?
24 A He provides me with information that he feels
25 that, perhaps, on the night of the investigation of the
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
Administrative Record Page 2727
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1 collision, that Officer Waddell may have taken property
2 that wasn't associated with the investigation as
3 evidence, and that he may have taken it for personal use
4 or some type of collection.
5 Q And then, ultimately, you wrote a memorandum?
6 A Yes.
7 Q And that's in February; right?
8 A I think that's correct.
9 Q Why did you wait until February to write a
10 memorandum?
11 A I think with -- I'm still cloudy on my timing,
12 but I think it was a memorandum to Lieutenant Proll, who
13 was eventually in charge of the investigation for that
14 particular -- I do remember writing a memorandum. I
15 would have to see it again, but it was a memorandum kind
16 of highlighting my conversation with Sergeant Pfarr
17 talking about the information that I knew at this point
18 in order to initiate whatever needed to be done at that
19 point with the investigation.
20 Q Did you -- were you requested to do that by
21 Lieutenant Proll?
22 A You know, the February date is kind of throwing
23 me off, and what's unfortunate, when I sometimes -- and
24 I haven't corrected it on my computer, is that if I go
25 in on a certain date to a memorandum, it will change the
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
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McDANIEL REPORTING Page: 1632
1 date automatically on my computer, and I'm a little
2 concerned that the date may have been changed. But for
3 some reason, the February date doesn't stand out to me.
4 I think I would have written the memorandum fairly soon
5 after my conversation with Sergeant Pfarr in order to
6 document the information and have that written down.
7 Q So it's your belief that when he came to you,
8 thereabouts, you would have shortly thereafter written
9 the memorandum to ensure that it was fresh in your mind
10 and as accurate as possible?
11 A Correct.
12 Q And are the statements in that memorandum, to
13 the best of your recollection, what Sergeant Pfarr told
14 you?
15 A They are. I would have written it that way. I
16 wouldn't have made any different allegations.
17 Q So, if Sergeant Pfarr said that your memorandum
18 wasn't accurate, would you be surprised by that?
19 A I believe I would be, yes.
20 Q Sergeant Pfarr testified today that you wanted
21 to know from him what would have been the motivation
22 behind the issue on the 19th; is that correct?
23 A I don't think I asked him what his motivation
24 was.
25 Q Him being Officer Waddell, if he had something,
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
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1 any insight into that, as in prior discipline issues, or
2 if there was a history of animosity. Does that sound
3 right?
4 A No, that doesn't sound right to me.
5 Q He testified that you were looking for
6 something to determine if this was a mistake of the
7 heart or a mistake of the mind. Does that sound right?
8 A That doesn't sound right to me.
9 Q He also testified that you asked him if
10 Officer Waddell was nervous around him for any reason.
11 Do you remember doing something like that?
12 A I don't remember that.
13 Q Would that have been a question you would asked
14 him on the heels of this investigation that had been
15 assigned to you, not as an investigator, but as the one
16 who was going to write the executive recommendation to
17 the Chief?
18 A I'm not sure if I understand your question.
19 Q Were you -- when you met with Sergeant Pfarr,
20 which he said you called him in, was it your intention
21 to do almost a supplemental interview on that date?
22 A No. No. My intent was not that at all.
23 Q Did you ask the investigator to ask questions
24 about DRMO?
25 A I remember having conversations about that, but
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
Administrative Record Page 2730
ARBITRATION, VOL. 8, 9-2-15, P.M. SESSION 9/2/2015
McDANIEL REPORTING Page: 1634
1 I don't recall specifically. When you say
2 "investigator," which investigator are you referring to?
3 Q The one that you assigned the investigation to.
4 A I didn't assign this investigation. It was
5 done through the Chief.
6 Q Well, when you assigned, ultimately, the
7 oversight over an investigation, right, did you ever
8 meet with the investigator?
9 A Are we talking the first investigation?
10 Q Right.
11 A There would have been some discussions that
12 would have taken place through a series of different
13 dates.
14 Q And this investigation that you were initially
15 doing, right, was about honesty and integrity; correct?
16 A Correct.
17 Q Were you told to ask questions about DRMO?
18 A I'm sure there were questions that came up
19 regarding that, yes.
20 Q Was that also a theme that you were aware of as
21 it pertained to Officer Waddell?
22 A A theme as far as what?
23 Q Well, I'm -- you recall conversations about
24 DRMO as it pertains to integrity, and honesty, and this
25 overall investigation; right?
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
Administrative Record Page 2731
ARBITRATION, VOL. 8, 9-2-15, P.M. SESSION 9/2/2015
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1 A That's the DRMO program? Yes, accountability
2 for that program is important.
3 Q Okay. But as it pertained to the Internal
4 Affairs investigation that you were initially
5 overseeing, did you think it was relevant?
6 A It must have been, because it was part of my
7 conversations, so it did come up as an item of
8 discussion.
9 Q Who brought it to your attention?
10 A I don't recall.
11 Q Was it initiated by you?
12 A I don't recall. There have been many
13 conversations about this process along the way.
14 Q Even though you were, ultimately, reassigned,
15 or this was taken out of your purview, you still
16 participated; correct? You were CC'd on e-mails, et
17 cetera?
18 A Limited basis, yes.
19 Q What do you mean "limited basis"?
20 A I don't know what information I was privy to or
21 not. I wasn't part of the entire process. I was part
22 of some of the process.
23 Q So did you ever ask Sergeant Pfarr if there was
24 an issue between him and Officer Waddell in terms of
25 fear, or intimidation, or something along that line, and
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
Administrative Record Page 2732
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1 that's how the Bentley issue was brought to your
2 attention?
3 A I don't recall that specifically.
4 Q His testimony today was that he wasn't sure
5 what motivated you to call him into your office, but
6 your testimony today is that he just appeared in your
7 office?
8 A I'm trying to recall specifically how the
9 information about the Bentley came to my attention, and
10 I don't know if it was through me hearing through
11 somebody else. I just recall that it was concerning.
12 So I'm trying to recall if, maybe, he was told he should
13 go talk to the captain, or if he came to me as a result
14 of a conversation like that. I just recall hearing
15 about the information, and that it was important that we
16 look into it further.
17 Q Okay. Now, at the point you have this
18 conversation with him in December, do you go to the
19 Chief with it?
20 A Yes.
21 Q Straight to the Chief?
22 A I don't know how quickly. It was -- I can't
23 remember that day specifically, but I know it would have
24 been within a short time span.
25 Q Sergeant Pfarr testified today that you and he
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
Administrative Record Page 2733
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1 discussed the penalty phase, potentially, what should
2 happen with Officer Waddell and integrity issues.
3 Do you have any recollection of that line of
4 conversation between the two of you?
5 A I'm not sure what you mean by me discussing the
6 penalty phase with Sergeant Pfarr.
7 Q I didn't understand what he meant either. So
8 you don't know what that means?
9 A I don't know.
10 THE HEARING OFFICER: Mutual misunderstanding.
11 BY MS. CASTILLO:
12 Q In terms of a penalty, I guess, discipline was
13 coming, maybe. Did you talk about discipline with him?
14 A I would be surprised, because that wouldn't be
15 information that he would be privy to.
16 Q He testified that you were asking him what and
17 why it happened, in his words. Is that accurate?
18 A "It" meaning what?
19 Q The texting event, the 19th.
20 A Can you ask that again, please?
21 Q Back to the mistake of the heart and mind,
22 which was it; right? Was it a misunderstanding between
23 them or not; right? We're back to that. Okay?
24 A I'm confused what investigation we're on.
25 Q I'm only talking about the texting.
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
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1 His testimony today was that you wanted further
2 insight into whether or not it was a mistake, a
3 misunderstanding, and that that you sought that from
4 Sergeant Pfarr. Is that accurate?
5 A I don't recall that specifically.
6 Q You don't remember that?
7 A I don't remember that.
8 Q Does that sound like something that you would
9 remember and have not included having a second
10 conversation with the complaining witness about?
11 A I'm not sure what we're talking about now when
12 you say second complaining witness.
13 Q Well, Sergeant Pfarr is a complaining witness
14 in your texting IA; right? He is the one who is, in
15 your allegations of your executive memo, is the one who
16 Officer Waddell made the false and misleading statements
17 to; correct?
18 A He's a witness, yes.
19 Q He complained about it; right?
20 A Yes. We're just using different terminologies.
21 Q I don't want to say he's a victim, so I'm
22 saying complaining witness. Are we on the same page?
23 A Yes.
24 Q So, from there, after that conversation
25 happens, you ask him about the Bentley incident, or he
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
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1 tells you about the Bentley incident; correct?
2 A Yes.
3 Q Enough to where you have a good understanding
4 of what happened that night, you believe; correct?
5 A With the Bentley incident?
6 Q Yes.
7 A No.
8 Q No?
9 A No. Enough to make me concerned that we may
10 have another investigation.
11 Q But he told you that he believed he handled it
12 that night; right?
13 A Yes.
14 Q He believed that it was a practical joke that
15 night; right?
16 A That night, yes.
17 Q And there's been no other allegations of any
18 similar type of misconduct on the part of
19 Officer Waddell that you were aware of; right?
20 A Not that I'm aware of.
21 Q And as he sat in your office, he didn't give
22 you any kind of indication that there was some
23 triggering event, other than this October 19th incident
24 that you were aware of, that would have changed him from
25 being a jokester to a thief; right?
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
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1 A Are you talking about Officer Pfarr's
2 perspective?
3 Q Right.
4 A Officer Pfarr's perspective was brought to me
5 later, so I have to go with the information that he
6 provided to me at that time.
7 Q So at that time the information he provides you
8 is that now, maybe, he is a thief; right?
9 A Yes.
10 Q And you're going to refer to the Chief; right?
11 A Correct.
12 Q You then make an executive recommendation;
13 right?
14 A Yes.
15 Q With this information in your mind about the
16 Bentley; right?
17 A Yes.
18 Q You don't write anything about that in your
19 executive recommendation, though. Why?
20 A Because it was an active investigation assigned
21 to somebody else, which I did not oversee. I was just
22 working on the one investigation. Then, at some point
23 in time, because of the allegations, they became merged.
24 Q Either he came to you, or you called him in,
25 and you asked him about this other issue; right?
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1 A Correct.
2 Q Same officer that you are about to make a
3 recommendation on; right?
4 A Correct.
5 Q On a potential integrity issue; right?
6 A Correct.
7 Q You have this in your mind as you were about to
8 make a recommendation on the one that you have been
9 assigned; right?
10 A Correct.
11 Q With that knowledge, at least from the one
12 person who has the strongest opinion of what happened in
13 February, from his mouth to your ear, Sergeant Pfarr,
14 you make a recommendation of a one time pay equivalent
15 suspension in value to 80 hours; right?
16 A Yes.
17 Q And then removal from SWAT and downtown bike;
18 right?
19 A Yes.
20 Q And downtown bike hadn't even started for him?
21 A Correct. I think --
22 THE HEARING OFFICER: Has that document been
23 marked? Should we be paying attention to it?
24 MS. CASTILLO: I'm going to mark it.
25 THE HEARING OFFICER: You're working up to it.
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1 Got it.
2 BY MS. CASTILLO:
3 Q When did you have your conversation with the
4 Chief that your recommended action was not acceptable?
5 A It would have been in December or January. I'm
6 not certain.
7 Q Well, enough time for it to be reassigned to
8 Captain Staley for him to redo a new one; right? Okay.
9 Have you ever looked through the Internal
10 Affairs investigation files of Officer Waddell, the
11 entire one that was submitted to the City Manager?
12 A No, I have not.
13 Q You have never seen the entire Bentley IA?
14 A I have seen several pieces. I don't know if
15 it's in its entirety. But I have not sat down and
16 looked at the complete file.
17 Q What have you seen?
18 A That would be very difficult to speak to.
19 There's been a lot of e-mail correspondence across the
20 way. I've written some of the information. Some of it
21 I've reviewed. Most of it is the result of the first
22 investigation and limited pieces on the Bentley.
23 Q So you would have read, basically, the entirety
24 of the CAT investigation; right?
25 A Yes.
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1 Q Did you listen to the audios?
2 A I did not.
3 Q So you wrote your executive recommendation also
4 without listening to any audio?
5 A Correct.
6 Q So, then, you have never seen any of the
7 transcripts either, then; right?
8 A Correct.
9 Q So then have you ever seen any -- well, did you
10 listen to any portions of Officer Waddell's interviews
11 from either investigation?
12 A No, I did not.
13 Q So your recommendation was just based on the
14 summary of Lieutenant Bledsoe?
15 A Well, it was also a result of another
16 investigation I was familiar with, as far as the
17 punishment.
18 Q Oh, the one that you researched?
19 A Correct.
20 Q So Lieutenant Bledsoe's summary and the
21 research; right?
22 A Yes. I did have the file. I would have
23 reviewed items in the file. I'm not saying I went
24 through it cover to cover, but I did rely on the
25 investigative skills of the officer that was assigned to
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1 complete that investigation.
2 Q But you also took the time to do your own
3 investigation to see what an appropriate penalty would
4 be, though; correct?
5 A Yes.
6 Q Did you know that Lieutenant Bledsoe sent his
7 investigation over to Lieutenant Proll on the other IA,
8 as that was going on right before he was interviewed
9 over there?
10 A No, I did not.
11 Q Is that normal protocol?
12 MR. PALMER: Objection; vague, speculation.
13 THE HEARING OFFICER: Do you know?
14 THE WITNESS: I don't know.
15 BY MS. CASTILLO:
16 Q Did the Chief indicate to you, although he said
17 that the 80 hours, and the removal from the assignments
18 was not sufficient, did he indicate to you what he
19 believed was?
20 A Yes.
21 Q What did he say?
22 A Termination.
23 Q What was the point in even doing the Bentley
24 IA?
25 A To accurately reflect the information that we
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1 had in order to make a decision.
2 Q Since your -- and when he told you that, what
3 was your reaction?
4 A I explained to him that, based upon information
5 that I had of a previous investigation involving lying,
6 that in order to be fair, that Officer Waddell may
7 deserve the same type of decision. But I think I've
8 learned there's a difference between fair and right, and
9 although I was trying to be fair, my decision was wrong.
10 It wasn't right.
11 Q What is the difference between fair and right,
12 then?
13 A Well, in the first situation with the other
14 incident we're talking about, had I had knowledge of
15 that circumstance and investigate that matter, I would
16 have -- my recommendation would have been that that
17 person was fired.
18 Q Well, and that was the false police report;
19 right?
20 A Yes.
21 Q You weren't aware of any kind of pattern of
22 lying on the part of Officer Waddell?
23 A No.
24 Q You were not aware of any kind of official
25 business documentation or anything? What you're saying
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1 is those cases were dissimilar?
2 A I think they were similar in the sense that two
3 people were in a situation where they lied.
4 Q Your findings were based on the summary of your
5 investigator; right?
6 A No. I testified that it's based on, I did have
7 the packet of information in front of me. I did not
8 read it page to page, but I did go through miscellaneous
9 parts of the file, along with reading the summary, and
10 along with researching a history of discipline that had
11 been provided to someone under similar circumstance.
12 Q Forget that part, because you have now said
13 that that was a wrong decision. So we're talking about
14 Officer Waddell. Miscellaneous parts of the file, what
15 does that mean?
16 A I know the file was in front of me, and I
17 looked through it. I can't say that I read it page for
18 page, but I did have access to the summary, and it
19 depended upon the recommendation of the investigator
20 that investigated the complaint.
21 Q When you went to speak to Chief Gesell about
22 your executive recommendation, had you given him your
23 packet?
24 A I believe it may have been in a packet form,
25 but I think my intent at the time wasn't, "Here, Chief,
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1 here is the final. This is exactly the way it should
2 be." I think it was also a sense of looking for some
3 guidance in a situation where I had no experience.
4 Q So what did you provide him?
5 A It would have the written recommendation that I
6 wrote along with supporting information that was part of
7 the file.
8 Q What do you mean "supporting information"?
9 A When we put these packets together, they're
10 usually contained in one file, and throughout the course
11 of the investigation, documents are added. So, at some
12 point in time, this entire packet, with the information
13 that was there to that point in time, was in that file
14 and available to him to review.
15 Q So this was December that you did this; right?
16 A I believe so.
17 Q Have you ever reviewed Captain Staley's
18 executive recommendation of the IA that you initially
19 made the recommendation on?
20 A I don't think so, no.
21 Q But you later learned from him that your
22 recommendation was wrong, also? That's what you
23 testified to; right?
24 A Well, I learned that Chief Gesell wasn't happy
25 with my recommendation.
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1 Q Right.
2 A When you said "him," I thought you were
3 pointing to Captain Staley.
4 Q I was. Originally, on the first date, you
5 testified you also said that Captain Staley told you
6 that you had made the wrong decision. Do you remember
7 that?
8 MR. PALMER: Objection; misstates the evidence.
9 THE HEARING OFFICER: Is that what
10 Captain Staley told you?
11 THE WITNESS: I don't know if he said, "You
12 made the wrong decision," but I think it was his
13 decision would have been different than mine. So I
14 guess, yes. I guess, by that declaration, it's
15 different.
16 THE HEARING OFFICER: Well, I am not sure that
17 was in evidence before, but, I guess, it is up to a
18 point now.
19 BY MS. CASTILLO:
20 Q What point did you have that conversation; do
21 you remember?
22 A I do not remember.
23 Q Was it after it had been taken from you and
24 given to him, and he did the recommendation, so it said
25 termination, or was it right before? Do you know?
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1 A I don't know.
2 MS. CASTILLO: I thought I had copies of this.
3 I only have one. So we either need to make copies, or I
4 can bring copies.
5 THE HEARING OFFICER: Can we get some copies of
6 this? It seems kind of important. Let's take a short
7 break.
8 (Recess.)
9 THE HEARING OFFICER: So we'll get those copies
10 made. But, in the meantime, other questions, go ahead.
11 BY MS. CASTILLO:
12 Q Other than the Chief and Captain Staley, who
13 else was aware of your two week suspension
14 recommendation?
15 A The Human Resources Director, Monica Harris.
16 Q Who else?
17 A I imagine the City Attorney was aware.
18 Q Right. Who else? The other lieutenants?
19 A I don't know. I can't remember specifically if
20 they were aware or not.
21 Q Do you recall having conversation with any of
22 them?
23 A I very well could have.
24 Q What about Lieutenant Bledsoe?
25 A It's possible. I don't remember a specific
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1 conversation.
2 THE HEARING OFFICER: So can we go ahead -- is
3 this one document or several?
4 MS. DIETRICK: It's multiple copies of one
5 document.
6 THE HEARING OFFICER: Is there a particular --
7 I have three. Am I supposed to have just one?
8 MS. DIETRICK: They're two-sided.
9 THE HEARING OFFICER: Is it one sheet
10 two-sided?
11 MS. DIETRICK: I think she -- our policy is to
12 conserve paper.
13 THE HEARING OFFICER: I have three. Is this
14 one document or three documents?
15 MS. DIETRICK: I asked her to make four copies.
16 THE HEARING OFFICER: We're going to mark
17 Appellant's II. That's capital Is. It's a two-page
18 document that's a memorandum to Chief Gesell from
19 Captain Storton, dated December 28, 2013, regarding
20 Administrative Inquiry 13-004P Officer Kevin Waddell.
21 MS. CASTILLO: Is there an extra one of the
22 double-sided ones?
23 THE HEARING OFFICER: Oh, I guess so. I think
24 I gave you two; right?
25 MS. DIETRICK: Yes, you did.
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1 MS. CASTILLO: That's fine.
2 THE HEARING OFFICER: I'll take this one.
3 BY MS. CASTILLO:
4 Q Do you have one in front of you?
5 A I do.
6 Q So December 28th, 2013, does that refresh your
7 recollection as to when this document went over to
8 Chief Gesell?
9 A Yes.
10 Q So that would have been when you made your
11 findings, or was this when you were seeking guidance?
12 A Well, I think -- I know I had a hard copy, and
13 I also know there was an e-mail copy. I just don't know
14 if this is from the hard copy or the e-mail copy.
15 Q What is there -- what's the issue?
16 A I don't know if that would have changed any of
17 the material or the date, because I did send an e-mail
18 copy to the Human Resources manager in draft form. So I
19 don't know if this was generated from that e-mail, or if
20 it was generated from the hard copy that I, most likely,
21 provided Chief Gesell.
22 Q Can you look at Appellant's O?
23 A 'O'?
24 Q Yes.
25 A Yes, I see it here.
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1 Q So you sent this draft review over to
2 Monica Irons in January; right?
3 A Yes.
4 Q Then that means that December 28th would have
5 been when you made the findings. Now you were asking
6 Ms. Irons for the feedback in January; correct?
7 A The date confuses me, and I'm trying to figure
8 out when I had the conversation with the Chief, because
9 although this was dated the 28th, I think I said
10 earlier, we could have talked in December or January. I
11 can't imagine giving this to the Chief, and then he
12 telling me he's not happy with it and reassigning it,
13 and then me asking Monica to review my document.
14 So I would have to, based upon the dates, that
15 would indicate to me that my conversation with the Chief
16 would have been in January.
17 THE HEARING OFFICER: Could you remind me who
18 Monica Irons is?
19 THE WITNESS: She's the Human Resources
20 Director. Sorry.
21 BY MS. CASTILLO:
22 Q Did you get any feedback from her?
23 A I don't recall. I don't recall getting
24 anything in an e-mail. I know there were a couple of
25 meetings that we had during the course of these joint
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1 investigations. There were a number of conversations.
2 Q If you could have had potential conversations
3 with others about your disciplinary recommendation,
4 maybe, the lieutenants, you're not sure, would that have
5 been because you were seeking advice as to what would
6 have been appropriate?
7 A Yes.
8 Q Can you just look at II and just confirm that
9 this is the memo that you authored and your findings?
10 A Yes, it is a memo that I authored.
11 MS. CASTILLO: Can I ask that that be admitted?
12 THE HEARING OFFICER: Any objection to 'II'?
13 MR. PALMER: Other than the previous objections
14 stated to this whole line of questioning, no.
15 THE HEARING OFFICER: All right. I'm going to
16 admit 'II'.
17 MS. CASTILLO: I don't have anything else.
18 MR. PALMER: If I could have a moment.
19 THE HEARING OFFICER: Sure.
20 MR. PALMER: I have no questions.
21 THE HEARING OFFICER: All right. Can we excuse
22 Captain Storton?
23 MR. PALMER: Yes.
24 THE HEARING OFFICER: Thank you very much, sir.
25 You're excused. Let's go off the record for a second.
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1 (Recess.)
2 THE HEARING OFFICER: It looks like we're done
3 for today. The appellant still has a few more witnesses
4 that we've discussed, including himself. And so, when
5 we pick this up, we're going to go forward on
6 October 2nd and October 16, as previously agreed. And
7 just out of an abundance of caution, the parties have
8 agreed to add one more date, Wednesday, October 28th,
9 and we'll get notice of the rooms that are being set
10 aside for all of that. Right, Ms. Dietrick?
11 MS. DIETRICK: We will get that organized and
12 get information out to everyone.
13 THE HEARING OFFICER: Great. I also understand
14 there will be an October 2nd motion. We'll take that up
15 again.
16 MS. CASTILLO: Yes.
17 THE HEARING OFFICER: Any other business we
18 need to put on the record at this time?
19 MR. PALMER: No, sir.
20 THE HEARING OFFICER: Very good. Then we'll be
21 in recess until then.
22 (Proceedings adjourned at 4:54 p.m.)
23
24
25
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1 STATE OF CALIFORNIA )
ss
2 COUNTY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO )
3
4 REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE
5
6 I, Jacqlyn M. Griffith, a Certified Shorthand
7 Reporter in and for the State of California, do hereby
8 certify:
9 That said proceedings was taken before me at
10 the time and place therein set forth and was taken down
11 by me in shorthand and thereafter reduced to
12 computerized transcription.
13 I hereby certify that the foregoing proceedings
14 is a full, true and correct transcript of my shorthand
15 notes so taken.
16 Dated at San Luis Obispo, California, this ____
17 day of _______________________, 2015.
18
19 ____________________________
JACQLYN M. GRIFFITH
20 CERTIFIED SHORTHAND REPORTER
21
22
23
24
25
Waddell v. San Luis Obispo, 16CV-0491
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BEFORE THE CITY COUNCIL
OF THE CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO
In the Matter of the Appeal )
of the Dismissal of )
OFFICER KEVIN WADDELL, )
Appellant, )
and )
CSMCS Case No. ARB-14-0209
POLICE DEPARTMENT OF THE )
CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO, ) VOLUME IX
PAGES 1656- 1903
Hiring Authority. )
TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS
SAN LUIS OBISPO, CALIFORNIA
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2015
8:05 A.M. - 4:07 P.M.
REPORTED BY MELISSA PLOOY, CSR #13068
MCDANIEL REPORTING
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1 THE TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS WAS TAKEN AT THE
2 CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO UTILITIES DEPARTMENT, 879 MORRO
3 STREET, SAN LUIS OBISPO, CALIFORNIA, BEFORE MELISSA
4 PLOOY, A CERTIFIED SHORTHAND REPORTER IN AND FOR THE
5 STATE OF CALIFORNIA, ON FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2015,
6 COMMENCING AT THE HOUR OF 8:05 A.M.
7
8 APPEARANCES OF COUNSEL
9 HEARING OFFICER:
10 SOUTHWESTERN LAW SCHOOL
BY: CHRISTOPHER DAVID RUIZ CAMERON
11 PROFESSOR OF LAW
3050 WILSHIRE BOULEVARD
12 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90010
213) 738-6749
13 CCAMERON@SWLAW.EDU
14 FOR THE APPELLANT:
15 CASTILLO HARPER, APC
BY: KASEY A. CASTILLO, ESQ.
16 3333 CONCOURS STREET
BUILDING 4, SUITE 4100
17 ONTARIO, CALIFORNIA 91764
909) 466-5600
18 KASEY@CASTILLOHARPER.COM
19 FOR THE HIRING AUTHORITY:
20 JONES & MAYER
BY: GREGORY P. PALMER, ESQ.
21 3777 NORTH HARBOR BOULEVARD
FULLERTON, CALIFORNIA 92835
22 (714) 446-1400
GPP@JONES-MAYER.COM
23
24 ALSO PRESENT: LAURA WADDELL, CAPTAIN CHRIS STALEY,
CHRISTINE DIETRICK
25
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1 I N D E X
2 WITNESS DIRECT CROSS REDIRECT RECROSS
3 KEVIN WADDELL 1663 1790 1877 1889
4 OFFICER BRENT INGLEHART 1891
5
6 I N D E X T O E X H I B I T S
7 APPELLANT'S MARKED ADMITTED
8 EXHIBIT JJ 1682 1685
9 EXHIBIT KK 1789 1790
10 EXHIBIT LL 1789 1790
11 EXHIBIT MM 1880 1890
12 EXHIBIT NN 1901 1901
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
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1 THE HEARING OFFICER: Good morning, everybody.
2 It's October 2, 2015. We're here with -- I think this
3 is day nine of the hearing in the Waddell appeal.
4 I just wanted to supplement the scheduling
5 order that we had at our call-in telephone conference on
6 September 29. Mr. Palmer advised that his surgery date
7 has been moved up. So our backup plan to proceed on
8 Sunday, October 11, we have to take that off calendar,
9 but Ms. Castillo has, once again, graciously agreed to
10 be very flexible and we're adding another day on this,
11 Sunday, October 4th. So that, coupled with Tuesday,
12 October 6, hopefully, will give us enough time to
13 finish, and we wish Greg God speed with surgery.
14 MR. PALMER: Thank you.
15 THE HEARING OFFICER: This morning, we're going
16 to proceed with the appellant, Officer Waddell.
17 Could I get you to raise your right hand? Do
18 you affirm that the testimony you're about to give will
19 be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
20 THE WITNESS: Yes, I do.
21 THE HEARING OFFICER: Very good. Ms. Castillo,
22 you may proceed.
23 MR. PALMER: Do you want to do the in-camera
24 first?
25 THE HEARING OFFICER: Oh. Let's go off the
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1 record.
2 (In camera review.)
3 THE HEARING OFFICER: So we're back on the
4 record. I've just completed the in camera review of the
5 documents that were produced by the custodian of
6 records, in this case, was Captain Staley, responsive to
7 the two Pitchess motions that I granted with respect to
8 Sergeant Pfarr and, also, Lieutenant Smith.
9 What I did was I reviewed three sets of
10 documents with respect to each motion. The first one
11 was the background file, second one was the personnel
12 file and the third one was documents related to citizen
13 complaints that were made against each officer.
14 After inspecting the documents and asking a few
15 questions in the examination of Captain Staley, it was
16 determined that there is one document that needs to be
17 produced just with respect to the file of Sergeant
18 Pfarr, and that's his letter of discipline with respect
19 to the Bentley event that was issued by Chief Gesell.
20 So that's going to be produced by the custodian, and
21 copies have been made.
22 With respect to the entire proceeding, I've
23 directed that it be kept under seal. The transcript is
24 to be produced and not to be produced, except in the
25 case of a court order so requiring.
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1 Mr. Palmer, is there anything else that I need
2 to cover?
3 MR. PALMER: Yes. Actually, no, but I'll -- on
4 the record, I have copies of the document that you
5 ordered disclosed.
6 THE HEARING OFFICER: Should we mark that in
7 some fashion, or we just turn it over?
8 MR. PALMER: Typically, what we do is just turn
9 it over, and if the other party decides to use it as an
10 exhibit, then we can mark it at that point.
11 Just for the record, it is a memorandum on the
12 City of San Luis Obispo Police Department letterhead
13 dated July 22, 2014, addressed to Sergeant Pfarr from
14 Chief Gesell, and the subject matter is reprimand for
15 failure to supervise. I've written on the copy that I'm
16 going to provide to Ms. Castillo that it's subject to a
17 protective order.
18 Typically, what we usually do is get a written
19 protective order in the criminal case. I'm going to
20 suspend that at this point because of the informality of
21 the proceeding and the fact that I have a level of trust
22 from Ms. Castillo.
23 Would it be agreeable, though, that as it
24 relates to this document, and this document only, that
25 it's subject to the following protective order: That
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1 you can only use it in this case, can't use it for any
2 other case, that you can't put it out on the Internet,
3 can't publicize it, can't share it with anybody, except
4 as it relates to the need to share it for this case, and
5 that you'll comply with that protective order?
6 MS. CASTILLO: Right.
7 MR. PALMER: Let the record reflect I'm handing
8 the document order disclosed to Ms. Castillo.
9 (Pause in proceedings.)
10 THE HEARING OFFICER: With respect to
11 Lieutenant Smith, there was nothing in the file that was
12 relevant and responsive to the Pitchess motion that I
13 granted.
14 So, therefore, I believe, Mr. Palmer, correct
15 me if I'm wrong, you have everything that's responsive
16 to the Pitchess motions?
17 MR. PALMER: Yes.
18 THE HEARING OFFICER: Okay.
19 MS. CASTILLO: I'm sorry.
20 THE HEARING OFFICER: No. It's -- I was -- I
21 thought I was extending you a courtesy. So are we ready
22 to go now to Officer Waddell?
23 MS. CASTILLO: We are.
24 THE HEARING OFFICER: Okay. So we're
25 proceeding now with direct examination of Officer
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1 Waddell as part of the appellant's case-in-chief.
2 You've already been sworn, correct?
3 THE WITNESS: Yes.
4 THE HEARING OFFICER: Very good. Ms. Castillo,
5 you may proceed.
6
7 DIRECT EXAMINATION
8 BY MS. CASTILLO:
9 Q. Prior to the proceedings for which we are here,
10 how long had you been employed by San Luis Obispo Police
11 Department?
12 A. Seven years.
13 Q. And what was your date of hire?
14 A. I believe it was July of 2007.
15 Q. And before you were terminated, what was your
16 last rank?
17 A. Police officer.
18 Q. And before you came to San Luis Obispo Police
19 Department, had you ever worked for another police
20 agency?
21 A. Yes, I did.
22 Q. What police agency was that?
23 A. Santa Maria Police Department.
24 Q. And how long did you work there?
25 A. For five years.
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1 Q. And what capacity were you hired there?
2 A. As a police officer.
3 Q. Was that your highest rank there?
4 A. Yes.
5 Q. And did you attend an academy?
6 A. Yes.
7 Q. What police academy did you attend?
8 A. Napa Valley Regional Academy.
9 Q. And when did you do that?
10 A. I started in January of 2002 and graduated in
11 May or June of 2002.
12 Q. Okay. And while you were at San Luis Obispo
13 Police Department, what types of assignments did you
14 have while you were a police officer?
15 A. When I was hired, I worked patrol. Shortly
16 after passing probation, I was selected to the traffic
17 enforcement unit as a motorcycle officer, and then from
18 the motorcycle unit, I went to the downtown bicycle
19 unit, and then shortly before administrative leave, I
20 had been selected to go to the daytime bicycle unit.
21 I had several other collateral assignments, as
22 well, was an accident reconstructionist, I was a
23 motorcycle trainer, I was on the S.W.A.T. team as an
24 operator, and then shortly after selection of the
25 S.W.A.T. team, I became a sniper on the S.W.A.T. team, I
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1 was a part of the military surplus program, what we
2 refer to as the DRMO program. I was working partnership
3 with Officer Berrios for that.
4 Q. Okay. So when you say motorcycle trainer, can
5 you describe what kind of duties and tasks that involved
6 and what the selection process was for that?
7 A. That was a collateral assignment. It was
8 something I had volunteered before. In the motorcycle
9 unit, there was very few trainers, and so we knew
10 Colleen Kevany was going to be retiring soon. So I had
11 volunteered to go to the school and -- so that we could
12 have some attrition so we didn't have the vacancy in the
13 training program going forward because we were going to
14 eventually end up training more people.
15 So that assignment is predominantly officers
16 that have never been to the four-hour basic motorcycle
17 school. You train them in a pre-academy, if you will,
18 before they go to the academy so they're proficient when
19 they arrive there as opposed to showing up cold, not
20 being able to pass the school.
21 You're also responsible for the ongoing
22 maintenance of the motorcycle unit. So there are
23 quarterly trainings that are held. So you're
24 responsible for communicating with the other trainers
25 for the other departments and ensuring that there's a
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1 proper protocol in place for when we arrive to do those
2 quarterly trainings with another department.
3 Q. And you said this was a volunteer position?
4 A. I volunteered myself and to the sergeant of the
5 unit at the time and they approved me to go to the
6 school.
7 Q. Okay. And then you said you were on the
8 S.W.A.T. team. And how did you become a member of that?
9 A. The S.W.A.T. team is a -- I wouldn't say not a
10 promotion, but it's something you have to test for. You
11 have to submit an application, they have an oral board
12 process and the department selects people based off
13 their responses to the oral board, how well they do.
14 Q. Are there physical tests that, also, are
15 required for this?
16 A. Yes, there are.
17 Q. Okay. And you said, at one point, you were an
18 operator and then, later, a sniper.
19 Can you describe those specific positions?
20 A. To be an operator on the S.W.A.T. team is a
21 general person that is on the team. They could be a
22 permanent person, they could be an entry person. It's,
23 kind of, just a general position within the S.W.A.T.
24 team; however, there are specific roles to people on the
25 team. There are breachers, there are people that are
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1 responsible for ramming the door, there are people that
2 are responsible for --
3 THE HEARING OFFICER: Is that what a breacher
4 is, the door-rammer?
5 THE WITNESS: I don't know if that's an
6 official term, but that's what we call it on the team.
7 They're the breacher, the person responsible for ramming
8 the door within the stack of people that made entry
9 rounds.
10 Similarly, there were people that were
11 responsible just for gas. They would handle applying
12 the gas into the house, come up with the gas protocol.
13 THE HEARING OFFICER: The tear gas?
14 THE WITNESS: Tear gas, correct. There was a
15 less lethal person that was responsible -- there was an
16 equipment person that was responsible for all the
17 equipment for that portion of the team.
18 Similar to that, being on the sniper team is an
19 isolated, specific group of people that were picked
20 within the team based off their marksmanship and we
21 carry special rifles, but we weren't subject to just
22 being snipers. We were still able to be called back if
23 there was necessity for more entry people, more
24 perimeter people.
25 If the scene was not set up to where snipers
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1 could be deployed, but we received extra training going
2 to extra schools, we were afforded the opportunity to
3 extra training hours outside of that of the normal
4 S.W.A.T. team.
5 BY MS. CASTILLO:
6 Q. Okay. And this was in addition to your regular
7 patrol schedule?
8 A. Correct.
9 Q. Okay. And then you mentioned that you were
10 part of -- or you had the additional collateral
11 assignment of being an accident reconstructionist?
12 A. Yes.
13 Q. Okay. So is this part of when you were in the
14 traffic unit, or how was it that you became involved in
15 that?
16 A. The accident reconstruction team, or group --
17 it was accident recon -- accident investigation, in
18 general, became something I was quickly drawn to. Math,
19 physics, all those kinds of things really attracted me
20 to that and putting back together a puzzle that,
21 otherwise, people are, generally, disinterested in
22 doing.
23 So when I was in motors, or in the traffic
24 unit, I continued to push myself to go to these schools
25 and seek the opportunity to go to these schools from the
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1 department. So while I was in motors, I went to the
2 basic -- the intermediate, the advanced, the
3 reconstruction schools.
4 Again, Colleen Kevany was on the reconstruction
5 team. We knew she was going to be retiring in a short
6 period of time. I wanted to make sure that our
7 department didn't lose someone without having someone to
8 replace that. So I went to many, many hours of
9 schooling to learn some significant investigative
10 skills.
11 So the accident reconstruction team is that
12 group of people that have acquired all that training so
13 in the event that we have a major accident in the city
14 limits, that team would be called out or respond to do
15 that detail investigation and provide the report for it.
16 Q. It's not regular math, right? I've seen some
17 of the equations. It's like Italian. I mean, they're
18 long, drawn-out formulas.
19 How many hours, total, did you have to put in
20 to be on the team?
21 A. You have to have completed reconstruction
22 school. So you had to go to a 40-hour basic
23 investigation school, you had to go to a 40-hour
24 intermediate, which is a skid analysis school, you had
25 to go to an advanced school, which taught you momentum
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1 and some basic vehicle inspection techniques, that was
2 an 80-hour school, then you had to go to an 80-hour
3 reconstruction school, which taught you more advanced
4 momentum, more advanced crush analysis so that you can
5 take vehicles that have already been damaged and
6 determine speed and, basically, who was at fault for the
7 collision in a scientific manner and a mathematical
8 manner as opposed to just basing it off Vehicle Code
9 violation. We can prove that the Vehicle Code violation
10 was committed based on these math equations.
11 Q. So as part of these schools, did you become
12 familiar in any kind of mechanics?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. And can you kind of elaborate on that?
15 A. In advanced accident investigation, there is an
16 eight-hour segment that is just vehicle inspections. So
17 we go through -- we -- we went through all the engine
18 components, went through brakes, took wheels off of
19 cars, inspected brakes for brake pads, brake function,
20 so in the event someone claimed that their brakes
21 failed, for example, we could -- from our standpoint,
22 our evidentiary, we wouldn't have to hire that out to
23 someone else. We were now taught to inspect these
24 vehicles.
25 Q. Okay. So you're pretty familiar with cars?
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1 A. Very familiar with cars.
2 Q. Pretty familiar with the Vehicle Code?
3 A. Very familiar with the Vehicle Code.
4 Q. Okay. So how long were you part of the traffic
5 safety unit, as a whole, when you were at San Luis
6 Obispo Police Department?
7 A. Uh, the three years I was within the actual
8 traffic unit, and then I stayed on as part of the
9 accident reconstruction team all the way up until I was
10 terminated.
11 Q. Okay. So, in total, on the accident
12 reconstruction team how long?
13 A. 2010 to October 2014. So that was four years.
14 Q. Okay. So would that be the four years plus the
15 three years, or does that time overlap?
16 A. It would overlap.
17 Q. Okay. Did you do any kind of research on your
18 own to improve the, kind of -- the efficiency of the
19 total station and accident reconstruction?
20 A. Yes.
21 Q. And what was that?
22 A. When I went to reconstruction school, we dealt
23 very heavy in scene diagramming, and at the time of my
24 involvement in the traffic unit, we were still using
25 what, really, in the business is archaic measuring
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1 techniques of putting a steel tape in the gutter and we
2 had a very significant involved scene that encompassed
3 several blocks and it took countless hours for the five
4 of us to try and investigate the scene.
5 So when I went to reconstruction school, I saw
6 a tool that they had there, which is a total station,
7 which is similar to what you'd see Caltrans use on the
8 side of the road to measure.
9 So I came back from that school and worked with
10 Captain Parkinson at the time to try and make and write
11 a proposal for our department to try to acquire this
12 piece of equipment to not only benefit the unit, to have
13 more detailed evidentiary diagrams, but also
14 significantly decrease the amount of time and money the
15 department was going to spend on resources to
16 investigate these traffic collisions.
17 Q. And were you able to obtain this piece of
18 equipment for the city?
19 A. Yes, we did.
20 Q. And so by obtaining this specific equipment,
21 did the city save any money or resources by way of your
22 proposal?
23 A. Yes. We -- what I figured out, through the way
24 my proposal was, I based it off that actual accident,
25 that we had five officers there for five hours and it
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1 took a certain amount of time, but with this machine, we
2 could have two officers and be there for an hour, and,
3 obviously, in the middle of the night when you're called
4 out for an accident, it would significantly save the
5 department overtime to go out and investigate a scene.
6 Q. As a trainer, approximately how many officers
7 do you believe that, while you were at the San Luis
8 Obispo Police Department, you trained?
9 A. I trained -- I'm sorry. As far as the
10 motorcycle training?
11 Q. Correct.
12 A. I trained four officers on the motorcycle.
13 Q. Are any of those supervisors now?
14 A. Yes.
15 Q. Who?
16 A. Then Officer John Villanti is now a sergeant
17 and he was already a sergeant at the time. Sergeant
18 Mickel, he was going into the traffic unit and he needed
19 to be trained.
20 Q. Okay. Throughout the course of this hearing,
21 we've heard a lot about the military program that you
22 mentioned called a DRMO.
23 Can you describe that a little more, as well as
24 your involvement with that program?
25 A. The DRMO program, as we've heard, it's a
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1 military surplus program that supported the law
2 enforcement agencies. It's application-based process.
3 So you have to request the items from the military and
4 it's an approval-based program from that point forward.
5 So you're not guaranteed to get the equipment.
6 When I first met Officer Berrios here, he was
7 already involved in that kind of a program from his
8 departments in the past, and I thought what a great way
9 to get involved to try and benefit the department even
10 more with acquiring, essentially, free equipment that we
11 wouldn't otherwise have to pay for.
12 So I helped, with Officer Berrios, in
13 conjunction with creating a better tracking program so
14 that in the event that the military called us back and
15 wanted the equipment back or if the department needed to
16 locate the equipment, we had some resemblance of a
17 tracking system within the department to identify and
18 locate where that equipment was going to be.
19 So the equipment was then passed out for
20 department use. Inherently, military equipment is
21 military-based. It's going to be more indicative of a
22 S.W.A.T. equipment. So, naturally, the more tactical
23 units within the department received more of the
24 equipment.
25 Q. And prior to you signing on to help Officer
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1 Berrios, was anyone else helping Officer Berrios?
2 A. No.
3 Q. Was this something that you were assigned to
4 do?
5 A. No.
6 Q. How is it that you became involved then?
7 A. Uh, Officer Berrios had already been running
8 the program at our department for a very short time
9 before I found out about it and I just volunteered
10 myself. I just started helping him. We would stay up
11 till 3:00 in the morning on many nights, looking for
12 equipment. I decided to help him, without any
13 recommendation, asking permission. It was something
14 that was benefiting the department that he was already
15 running. There was not a selection process. This was
16 complete voluntary for us and we didn't get anything in
17 return, other than when we went to go travel to go get
18 the equipment.
19 Q. You didn't get paid to do this?
20 A. We got paid the times that we went to go pick
21 up the equipment. We got paid for the times we went to
22 go pick it up, but there were many times where I would
23 set my alarm at 3:00 in the morning to wake up on my
24 days off to look and research equipment, to be the first
25 person to request it, that I wouldn't necessarily put in
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1 for the overtime for.
2 Q. Okay. And how long were you involved with this
3 program?
4 A. We did traffic in 2009. It was very shortly
5 after I was in traffic. So I would say late 2009 on
6 through my termination.
7 Q. So about four years, or so?
8 A. Four and a half, five years, probably.
9 Q. Okay. And besides you and Officer Berrios,
10 anyone else involved in this program?
11 A. Not in that capacity that we were involved in
12 it. We would -- if we were unable to go pick something
13 up, we could -- we would be able to facilitate someone
14 else going to get the equipment, but no one else managed
15 the equipment, no one else tracked it. We were solely
16 responsible.
17 Q. No one else inventoried it or passed it out or
18 anything else like that?
19 A. No.
20 Q. No one else was responsible for it?
21 A. No.
22 Q. And so why would you choose to be involved in
23 all of these collateral programs?
24 A. I love being a cop, I love this whole business
25 and I wanted to make our department better. I came from
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1 a department that didn't value people and what they
2 provided to the department and that was something that I
3 saw from the moment that I got here and I wanted to make
4 this department as good as we could make it, whether it
5 was with providing training equipment, my ability to be
6 involved.
7 Q. These collateral assignments that you had,
8 aside from S.W.A.T. when you were called in or the
9 accidents when, obviously, you were dispatched to those,
10 when you volunteered your time to train people for
11 motorcycles or when you were inventorying and going to
12 pick up the DRMO assignments, how did you manage your
13 time for those with your regular patrol duty?
14 A. Generally, I was responsible and expected to
15 manage my own time. With DRMO, with the training,
16 they're separate, but specific to the DRMO program, us
17 being able to go get the equipment and worked around our
18 regular schedule, we were told not to impact our regular
19 schedule with that. So we had to work our schedule
20 around going to get the equipment picked up.
21 As far as the motorcycle training, again, it
22 was the same thing. It was having to find the time to
23 work and train these people, but like any other teaching
24 program, you can't -- if someone's doing well, you have
25 to try and have a loose enough ability to keep working
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1 harder so they get a point where they are getting
2 better. You're not going to stop just because there's a
3 specific time period.
4 Q. Okay. So while you were benefiting the
5 department, you still had to manage around a schedule,
6 but moved forward with the people that you were
7 training?
8 A. Yes.
9 Q. Okay. What about specific to the people you
10 were training and their schedules? How was that worked
11 around in terms of scheduling? Was there a specific
12 block of time that you were allotted to train people?
13 A. No.
14 Q. So this was just, solely, on your own time?
15 A. Uh, generally, the people that I trained, it
16 was in off-time of our regular schedules so we didn't
17 impact our regular schedule, and to that effect, there
18 was not any management at that time, but we were told to
19 make sure this person is trained proficiently enough so
20 that they could pass the school, but we were not given a
21 cap.
22 Q. But you had supervision over that, right?
23 A. It would have been whoever the immediate
24 supervisor was for either the traffic unit or it would
25 have been -- there was not a specific person, per se.
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1 Q. Okay. So -- but, I mean, someone must have
2 known what you were doing and when you were doing it,
3 right?
4 A. Uh, somebody -- their time cards were approved.
5 An instance that comes to mind is when I
6 trained Sergeant Mickel, Sergeant Mickel facilitated and
7 coordinated the dates, times and what our schedule was
8 going to allow and I didn't verify any of that, I didn't
9 double-check with that and he said it was going to work.
10 So whoever he worked with checked -- I just went with
11 what was there.
12 Q. Okay. So what about for the accident
13 reconstruction assignment that you had when you were
14 working with your downtown bike schedule?
15 How were you able to do both of those
16 assignments at the same time?
17 Did you have to flex your schedule or shift
18 things around? How did that work?
19 A. With accident reconstruction, there's a
20 significant amount of analysis that goes on once you
21 have a crash. The computer-aided diagramming, like I
22 said, the math, you're doing three pages worth of
23 trigonometry to figure out how fast someone is going.
24 That takes time and it's a little bit of an art. You
25 don't have the opportunity to say I need an hour to do
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1 this because I don't know if it's going to take me an
2 hour.
3 So there were days and times when you would
4 have a crash, and if you'd have some downtime -- like,
5 there were hours where I would spend my regular bicycle
6 shift doing accident reconstruction just because there
7 was not any active thing going on and I was doing
8 productive work that was reconstruction-related, but I
9 was, technically, on my bicycle shift.
10 Q. Okay. And was anyone -- I mean, was the
11 supervision of this micromanaged any way? Describe the
12 supervision of yourself at this point.
13 A. I would describe the supervision of accident
14 reconstruction as passive. We were expected to complete
15 our assignments. There was no one checking in to see
16 what we needed or how much more time we needed or when
17 we were going to do it or have it done by.
18 Q. Okay. And so in terms of your DRMO collateral
19 assignment that you -- you said you did that for almost
20 five years, or so?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. Okay. And the entire department benefited from
23 you going and getting this equipment?
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. Okay. When you would go north or south in the
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1 state to go get the equipment, did you ever have to flex
2 your time?
3 A. Um, I don't recall an instance where we ever
4 had to flex time from our regular schedule, away from
5 our regular schedule, but, certainly, we were not
6 impacting our regular schedule by trying to do that.
7 Q. Okay. And who was supervising you as you were
8 doing that assignment, inventorying and being in charge
9 of all that equipment?
10 A. Officer Berrios and I reported directly to
11 Captain Staley.
12 Q. Okay. And what was the supervision like?
13 A. I recall, initially, him requesting e-mails and
14 some dialogue as to what we were requesting
15 equipment-wise, when and where we would be going, but I
16 found quickly in that that we would sometimes not get
17 replies to when we would send him e-mails.
18 So we, again, felt that we were expected to
19 appropriately manage ourselves, our time and the
20 equipment that we were acquiring.
21 Q. Okay. And were you ever notified that you were
22 deficient in any way in that management of your own
23 time?
24 A. No.
25 MS. CASTILLO: And will you hand me the first
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1 exhibit?
2 MRS. WADDELL: This?
3 MS. CASTILLO: No, no. What number are we on?
4 THE HEARING OFFICER: I think I had II.
5 MS. CASTILLO: I feel like we're past that.
6 THE HEARING OFFICER: Let me take a look.
7 MS. CASTILLO: I think QQ, or something.
8 THE HEARING OFFICER: It could be. Let me find
9 the last page here.
10 MS. CASTILLO: I think we're at Y.
11 MR. PALMER: I have II as the last in the book.
12 MS. CASTILLO: Really?
13 THE HEARING OFFICER: Yeah. That's what I got,
14 too.
15 MS. CASTILLO: All right. So --
16 THE HEARING OFFICER: So the next one would be
17 JJ.
18 MS. CASTILLO: Let's have this marked as JJ.
19 This is a packet of documents. Okay. 25-page packet,
20 JJ.
21 THE HEARING OFFICER: These look like
22 certificates of appreciation awards.
23 MS. CASTILLO: Right. It's just the standard
24 awesome officer packet. That would be the title.
25 THE HEARING OFFICER: Standard officer?
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1 MS. CASTILLO: No. The officer -- awesome
2 officer packet.
3 THE HEARING OFFICER: Awesome officer packet.
4 MS. CASTILLO: Right.
5 THE HEARING OFFICER: Also known as attaboy.
6 Okay.
7 MS. CASTILLO: It's his post-certificates, all
8 of his...
9 THE HEARING OFFICER: All right. You can go
10 ahead.
11 BY MS. CASTILLO:
12 Q. Officer Waddell, I'm not going to go through
13 every single award in here, but I just want to touch on
14 a couple of these.
15 The first -- the first page of what has now
16 been marked as JJ is what?
17 A. It's a Certificate of Appreciation from the
18 International Footprinters Association.
19 Q. Can you explain what that is?
20 A. I'm not overly-familiar with the group, but my
21 understanding is they're a local organized group that
22 recognizes law enforcement officers with the community
23 for superior service.
24 I received this award for my involvement in the
25 Automated Field Reporting Program. When I was in the
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1 traffic unit, I was approached by the records supervisor
2 as wanting me to be involved in developing a field base
3 reporting program.
4 So I worked with the records department, I
5 worked with IT. We had routine regular meetings to try
6 and develop a field program for taking accident reports,
7 which, ultimately, would develop into regular crime
8 reports. We had a ticket that we wrote traffic tickets
9 from a computer and printed out in the field and we
10 worked tirelessly to try to get this program off the
11 ground. That's what this was a written recognition
12 of.
13 Q. And do you know how many officers get a
14 Footprinter award every year?
15 A. Uh, my understanding is that San Luis Obispo
16 P.D. gets to recognize one person to this association
17 per year.
18 MS. CASTILLO: Okay. Thank you. You know
19 what? I just realized there is a post-dispatcher
20 certificate in here that we might want to remove. We
21 can go off the record really quick?
22 THE HEARING OFFICER: I'm sorry. Is there
23 something that needs to be --
24 MS. CASTILLO: We have his wife's dispatcher
25 certificate that was included on accident in here.
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1 THE HEARING OFFICER: We'll just note which one
2 it is. I don't think it changes anything.
3 MS. CASTILLO: I don't know if anyone doesn't
4 want to include that in record, but it was on accident.
5 THE COURT REPORTER: Are we on the record?
6 MR. PALMER: No.
7 MS. CASTILLO: No.
8 THE HEARING OFFICER: Let's go off.
9 (Discussion off the record.)
10 MS. CASTILLO: I guess I would ask that JJ be
11 admitted.
12 THE HEARING OFFICER: Any objection to JJ?
13 MR. PALMER: No.
14 THE HEARING OFFICER: Without objection, JJ is
15 admitted.
16 BY MS. CASTILLO:
17 Q. Officer Waddell, did you also work as part of
18 the CAT shift?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. Can you describe your experience with the CAT
21 shift?
22 A. My understanding of the CAT shift, it was meant
23 to be a foot patrol deployment of the downtown area
24 addressing any concerns related to businesses, alcohol
25 violations. My understanding of the program, it was
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1 initially deployed that it was an overtime shift,
2 sign-up shift as a beta test, if you will, for what
3 could end up being a full-time program. The program, as
4 I recall, initially, was a two-officer foot patrol,
5 which then, during the early summer months, was a
6 single-officer-only foot patrol shift, but then, in the
7 fall, transitioned back to a two-officer foot patrol
8 shift.
9 Q. When you say early summer months, what year are
10 you talking about?
11 A. 2013.
12 Q. Okay. So early summer months of 2013 was one
13 officer, and then early fall of what year was two
14 officer?
15 A. My recollection, it was based off our patrol
16 rotation shift. The lieutenant for the day shift was
17 responsible for managing the program during that time,
18 and so the first four months of the year was one
19 lieutenant managed it, and then the next four months of
20 the year, another lieutenant managed, depending on who
21 the day shift lieutenant was and so on.
22 So I believe it was around September that it
23 was back to a two-officer shift. So it would have been
24 something to the effect of May to September was a
25 single-officer shift.
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1 Q. And that was in 2013?
2 A. Correct.
3 Q. Okay. And in 2013, May to September, who was
4 the lieutenant that you're speaking about?
5 A. Lieutenant Smith.
6 Q. Okay. And the other lieutenant -- was there
7 ever a shift in lieutenants?
8 A. As I recall, the first rotation of the year, it
9 was Lieutenant Proll that managed the program first,
10 then Lieutenant Smith, and then it began Lieutenant
11 Smith in the fall in that last...
12 Q. Okay. So Lieutenant Proll, Lieutenant Smith
13 and then Lieutenant Smith again?
14 A. Correct.
15 Q. Okay. So when it was the original beta
16 testing, that would have been under Lieutenant Proll?
17 A. I say beta testing, but I wasn't, obviously,
18 involved in any of the decision-making of the program --
19 Q. Right.
20 A. -- but the way it was reflected to us, as the
21 officers, is that this entire program we're doing for
22 2013 is a test sample for our likelihood of deploying an
23 official full-time two-officer team as CAT.
24 So it wouldn't say the first quarter of the
25 year or first third of the year was the beta testing. I
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1 don't know what would have been the test, but that was
2 my understanding, the way it was reflected to us.
3 Q. Okay. So when the program was in its initial
4 development stages, would Lieutenant Proll have had some
5 kind of part in the development, based on what you
6 witnessed?
7 A. The only thing I was a witness to was how the
8 overtime was disseminated, sign-up sheets, you get
9 assigned, that sort of thing. I wasn't aware of who was
10 responsible for its development or anything.
11 Q. Okay. Can you testify to what you did witness
12 in terms of how the sign-ups occurred and how overtime
13 was scheduled?
14 A. In my experience, there was a sign-up sheet
15 posted on the board in the hallway. An e-mail went out
16 to prospective people that wanted to work the overtime.
17 The sign-up sheet was in the hallway, you would go to
18 the hallway sign-up sheet, it would have CAT shift, it
19 would have some dates, it would have lines next to the
20 dates and people would write their names on specific
21 dates that they wanted. There was only two lines there
22 or one line, depending on the deployment of the number
23 of officers, and sometimes you'd go there and there
24 would be no names and sometimes you'd go there and there
25 would be five names. So sometimes you wouldn't put your
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1 name there if you saw people that had more seniority
2 than you because you knew you were probably not likely
3 to get it.
4 The period of time in which the sign-up sheet
5 would stay on the board would lapse. Someone would go
6 get the sign-up sheet. The sign-up sheet would
7 disappear. An e-mail would be sent out that these are
8 the officers that are working these specific shifts. We
9 would be told that the shifts would be put into
10 SpeedShift, the scheduling program, and we were
11 responsible for showing up on the shifts we were
12 assigned.
13 Q. Okay. After the sign-up sheet came down and
14 the shifts were assigned in SpeedShift, did the sign-up
15 shift ever get reposted in the hallway?
16 A. I never recall a time that the schedule sign-up
17 sheet going back to the hallway.
18 Q. Did you work a lot of those CAT shifts?
19 A. I worked a lot of CAT shifts.
20 Q. Why?
21 A. I was already working downtown on the bicycle
22 at night.
23 When I say, "night," our shift started anywhere
24 from 3:00 to 5:00. So we did have some daytime activity
25 with folks downtown.
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1 So, for me, it was a natural place to go to
2 work more. I enjoyed working. Like I said, I loved
3 being a cop. So I had no problem working as much and as
4 often as possible.
5 There were some other things that were told to
6 me earlier in the year that incentivized me to want to
7 work more to try and show my commitment, as well.
8 Q. Like what?
9 A. Uh, I have had a conversation with Chief Gesell
10 in the beginning of 2013 where I was accused of having a
11 lack of commitment to the organization and that was one
12 of the things that stemmed me wanting to show that I did
13 have commitment to the organization, by working as much
14 and as hard as possible.
15 Q. Tell us about the conversation, or how that
16 happened.
17 A. That conversation stemmed from -- for
18 descriptive purpose, an exit interview from my lack of
19 promotion to sergeant.
20 Q. This is -- well, let me back up.
21 Did you -- how many times have you tried to
22 become sergeant at San Luis Obispo Police Department?
23 A. I tested for sergeant twice.
24 Q. Okay. And at what point did you have an exit
25 interview with Chief Gesell?
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1 A. I had two exit interviews with Chief Gesell.
2 Q. And the time in 2013 when you were not
3 promoted, who was promoted?
4 A. Sergeant Pfarr.
5 Q. And you had an exit interview, right?
6 A. It was something that I wanted. When I was
7 told that I was not promoted, I wanted to get some
8 feedback from him and hear what his decision-making and
9 his thought process was related to my non-promotion to
10 see how I can improve, what I did wrong, what I could do
11 better, those kinds of things.
12 Q. So how did that conversation take place? Did
13 you make an appointment with him?
14 A. I made an appointment with the chief secretary.
15 Q. And what happened next?
16 A. With that interview or the other interview?
17 Q. Well, with this interview.
18 A. With this particular interview, I went in to
19 find out what -- what his thought process was, his
20 decision-making, those kinds of things, as I said.
21 So when I got there, it was -- it was a very
22 cold interaction from him. He started off the interview
23 questioning something that he thought he heard on the
24 telephone when he called me to tell me that he had
25 promoted Sergeant Pfarr.
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1 Q. And what was that conversation like?
2 A. He accused me of laughing at him on the phone
3 when he made the notification to me that Sergeant Pfarr
4 was his selection.
5 Q. Had you laughed at him?
6 A. Absolutely not.
7 Q. So how did that conversation go?
8 A. I emphatically told him that I had not laughed
9 at him and I don't know what he heard and I went on to
10 explain to him what was going on in my house at the time
11 when he called me because I had two small children at
12 that time and they were both in a nap.
13 I actually had -- when the phone rang, had to
14 quickly go to another area of the house to try and
15 actually be quiet as to not disturb them while they're
16 sleeping.
17 So I don't know how he could have perceived --
18 and that's what I expressed to him, I don't know how you
19 could have perceived that, but I did not, in any way,
20 laugh at you.
21 Q. Okay. And so then what happened next?
22 A. He went on to tell me things that he did not
23 necessarily take into consideration for his decision of
24 my promotion -- non-promotion to sergeant, but he wanted
25 to give me the opportunity to respond.
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1 He told me that he was approached by people,
2 that he was not going to name, that witnessed me during
3 S.W.A.T. PT tests looking at my watch, and so Chief
4 accused me that by looking at my watch during a S.W.A.T.
5 PT test, that that, to him, meant that I had a lack of
6 commitment to the organization.
7 THE HEARING OFFICER: What's a PT test?
8 THE WITNESS: Physical fitness, physical
9 training, physical -- it's a timed run, activities,
10 hurtles, walls. It's a part of the maintenance
11 qualification for being on the S.W.A.T. team.
12 THE HEARING OFFICER: Thank you.
13 BY MS. CASTILLO:
14 Q. Wait a minute. He accused you of looking at
15 your watch during the timed test?
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. Okay. All right. And then what?
18 A. He told me -- again, he said that he didn't
19 want me to think that that was something he took into
20 consideration for making his decision of sergeant, but
21 wanted to give me the opportunity to respond to
22 something like that.
23 And so I proceeded to tell him how
24 flabbergasted I was that not only would I have to
25 respond to something like that, but flabbergasted that
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1 that was something that would come up in a four-month
2 period between promotions.
3 I went on to tell him it's also very curious
4 that this comes up in a four-month period between two
5 sergeant promotions because I hadn't run a S.W.A.T. PT
6 test since 2011 and this was now January of 2013. So
7 why is someone -- whoever has come to you, why has
8 someone come to you in this four-month period, other
9 than to make me look bad to you for a new pending
10 promotion.
11 I had separated my shoulder on duty and I was
12 out of work for almost ten months. So I was not even at
13 work for the majority of that time, but then when I came
14 back, I didn't run the next S.W.A.T. PT test. So it had
15 been a year and a half since I had run a S.W.A.T. PT
16 test.
17 So it was completely perplexing to me, hence my
18 response of being flabbergasted, that, A, someone would
19 call into question my commitment to this organization,
20 given the past, but, also, that it would come up in this
21 time period while I'm trying to promote to sergeant.
22 Q. Okay. So then what?
23 A. He went on to tell me some other things related
24 to why he thought my oral interview was not as positive
25 as the oral interview I had before, and that was the end
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1 of the meeting.
2 Q. Okay. So based on his impression of the lack
3 of commitment to the department, you decided to work not
4 only the volunteer positions and the other collateral
5 assignments that you've discussed, but additional
6 overtime?
7 A. Promoting at this department is something that
8 I wanted to do. I wanted to be part of the management
9 team at this point. So I felt like I needed to now, at
10 this point, given what I'd been just told, now I needed
11 to go above and beyond to try and work as hard, work as
12 much as possible to try and show him and anyone else --
13 because I didn't know who this was at this point. I had
14 my suspicions as to who it probably was, but I had no
15 idea who it was. So at this point, I had to show to
16 everybody how committed I was.
17 Q. So how much time did you spend at the police
18 department during the period of 2013?
19 A. I feel like I was there nonstop. I feel like
20 there was very few days off that I had.
21 Q. Okay. At any point, were you not available to
22 Lieutenant Smith if he needed to talk to you?
23 A. I don't think so. I was there many a days
24 during the day shift for these CAT shifts. So I was
25 available.
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1 Q. At any point, were you not available to
2 Sergeant Pfarr if he needed to speak to you?
3 A. I was available to him, as well, similar.
4 Q. You mentioned the second time you were -- what
5 would have been the first time that you tested for
6 sergeant?
7 A. Yes.
8 Q. What was that about?
9 A. That promotional list started in the summer of
10 2012. That was when the department had planned on
11 having promotions. There was anticipation amongst the
12 applicants, as well as what we had heard from some of
13 the managers, was that there was likely to be two
14 selections from this list. So I wanted to make sure
15 that I did the best possible to be at the top of that
16 list so that I had a strong chance to get one of these
17 two spots.
18 So we went through the testing process through
19 that summer and a list was established in and around
20 August of 2013 so that -- I'm sorry -- 2012 so that the
21 promotion in September of 2012 could be made from that
22 list.
23 Q. And did you get promoted then?
24 A. I did not get promoted in September 2012.
25 Q. Who did?
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1 A. Sergeant Fred Mickel.
2 Q. And what did you do to improve your chances?
3 A. At that time --
4 Q. The next time.
5 A. -- I also sought a meeting with the chief at
6 that time to hear his decision, as well as find out if
7 there was things that I could do to improve and things
8 like that.
9 Q. What were you told?
10 A. I was told by the chief at that time that I had
11 a very successful interview. He told me that I was
12 everything that he wanted in someone in his management
13 team, he told me to keep doing what I was doing, that
14 good things would come to me. He told me, at that time,
15 that one of the things I should probably do is market
16 myself over the next couple months to try and be in a
17 good position for the next possible promotion.
18 Q. And what did you take that to mean?
19 A. I took that as that I needed to show what my
20 value was. So in those four months, I put on briefing
21 trainings, I tried to extend my knowledge of
22 reconstruction to the patrol deployment and what they
23 could do, I continued to manage all of my same programs
24 to the best of my ability, continued to be as involved
25 as possible.
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1 Q. Did you do some kind of project with housing
2 area in the neighborhood?
3 A. Um, there was a special project that was given
4 to me by Captain Staley where I was to research a
5 program to identify consistent party houses, if you
6 will. So it was a program to track these and then the
7 house could get posted so that any patrons that attended
8 a future party there would be on notice that this was an
9 unruly house. It was part of the over -- an
10 overwhelming interest from the community to try and
11 reduce the parties and the noise and things like that.
12 So that was the program.
13 Q. Did you ever learn where you were ranked during
14 these testing periods?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. And what did you learn?
17 A. I learned that I tested number one on that
18 sergeant promotion for 2012, I learned that Fred Mickel
19 was number two, Chad Pfarr was number three, and that is
20 the important part of the list, if you will, because you
21 have -- the chief has the ability to select from the top
22 three.
23 So that's the goal. Any time that you go
24 through a promotional process here was to try to get
25 into that bracket so you can be one of the selecting
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1 people.
2 Q. And what about the second time you tested?
3 A. The other time I tested was, I believe, in
4 2011, and part of the testing process is you have to
5 take a written test, and it's a multiple choice
6 state-approved test, and I didn't pass that written
7 test, I think, by two questions, or something. So I
8 didn't get to continue as part of the process because I
9 didn't pass that written test.
10 Q. So after not passing that written test the
11 first time, you worked really hard to get up to number
12 one for the second time?
13 A. I was very committed the second time around to
14 try and do the best as possible.
15 Q. How is it that you learned where you were
16 ranked?
17 A. There's a little bit of an unofficial process
18 amongst the applicants where everyone talks about their
19 scores and Sergeant Pfarr was actually one of the people
20 in that group of the seven of us that was very active in
21 trying to find out who else got what score and we all
22 kind of collaborated as to which and who ranked where
23 based on the averages from the score.
24 Q. Did you talk to anyone else during this time
25 period about having been passed over for the sergeant
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1 position?
2 A. Uh, I talked to a couple different people after
3 my non-promotion in September of '12. I had a
4 conversation with Chad Pfarr about it, as well as I had
5 a conversation with Lieutenant Proll.
6 Q. And what was the purpose in having these
7 conversations?
8 A. Um, different intents with those two people.
9 Lieutenant Proll, obviously, was to try and glean some
10 information that I could do. He was my immediate
11 supervisor, do you have any programs you're working on,
12 is there anything I can do, do you have any
13 recommendations for me, what can I do so that, in the
14 next four months, I can be in an excellent position to
15 be promoted.
16 The conversation that I had with Sergeant Pfarr
17 was more of a commiserating conversation, if you will.
18 It would have been, how was your interview, what did he
19 say to you, how did it go, those kinds of things.
20 Q. We've heard some testimony during this hearing
21 that when the detective assignments came up later, that
22 you also went around trying to find out from individuals
23 how to, potentially, get the detective position.
24 Was that similar to what you did with -- when
25 you went to speak to Lieutenant Proll?
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1 A. Yes.
2 Q. So can you describe what you did in that --
3 during that time period?
4 A. The detective or for --
5 Q. Right.
6 A. -- lieutenant?
7 Q. Right. For the detective spot.
8 A. That was in 2013. There was going to be
9 another sergeant promotion. Judging from the last
10 meeting I had with the chief, I felt like trying to
11 promote again this soon was probably not the best
12 timing. So I foregoed my application to promote to
13 sergeant again.
14 I decided, at that point, to try and build my
15 resume a little more, if you will. So one of the areas
16 in which I didn't really have any significant experience
17 was in the support area. I worked operations my entire
18 12 -- up to that point, 10 years, 11 years. So I wanted
19 to go in the building working in an investigative
20 capacity more and detectives was the natural spot for
21 that.
22 Q. Okay. So what did you do in order to try and
23 learn how to, potentially, get a detective spot? Who
24 did you talk to?
25 A. I met with the detective lieutenant, at the
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1 time, was Lieutenant Bledsoe. I met with all of the
2 current detectives, I met with past detectives, trying
3 to find out what information would be worth --
4 study-worthy for an oral board. I went -- called a
5 ride-along. I went on a ride-along with our city -- our
6 fire department's narcotics team, if you will, the SET
7 team, the Special Enforcement Team.
8 So I went with them to have a warrant signed by
9 a judge, I went out and helped them serve the warrant,
10 saw what their functions were as a unit so that I could
11 be as prepared as possible to not have to get up to
12 speed if I was selected to that assignment.
13 Q. Okay. And so when you went and met with
14 Lieutenant Proll, going back to around the time when you
15 had put in for sergeant and got passed over, what was
16 his advice to you, if you remember?
17 A. I recall him not having much advice. His
18 advice was that -- and to quote him, was "Don't fuck it
19 up and it's yours. Keep doing what you're doing," was
20 the advice that he gave me. He didn't have any special
21 assignments I could work with or on. He just wanted me
22 to keep doing what I was doing, and I expressed to him
23 some of the things I had thought of. He thought that
24 was going to be appropriate to have some briefing
25 trainings and do some stuff to pass on my knowledge to
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1 some other officers. He agreed with that and we
2 departed our meeting.
3 Q. Okay. After Sergeant Pfarr got promoted,
4 did -- let me back up.
5 What was your relationship with Chad Pfarr like
6 before his promotion?
7 A. I would say it was cordial. We didn't,
8 necessarily, know each other. We knew each other here
9 from work and I did not know him before being employed
10 here. So we had our -- we had normal interaction before
11 him being promoted.
12 He, coincidentally, bought a trash compactor
13 from me off of Craigslist one time and came over to the
14 house unknowingly.
15 THE HEARING OFFICER: How did that happen?
16 THE WITNESS: So that was kind of comical. So
17 we laughed about that when he came to the house about a
18 trash compactor.
19 There was another time where, again, kind of by
20 happenstance, my daughter goes to speech therapy a lot
21 and his family was taking his son to the same speech
22 therapist. So the speech therapist communicated to them
23 that she knew of this other family that was getting
24 speech services paid through their insurance company,
25 which was us. So she wanted to know if she could
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1 connect the two families. Well, unknowingly, again,
2 just like the trash compactor, we got connected in that
3 way, that his son was looking to get some speech
4 services paid and paid through insurance.
5 So the wives connected a lot through e-mail and
6 phone calls. My wife spent a lot of time, for our
7 daughter, writing to the insurance company. So she
8 facilitated with his wife, drafting some e-mails to the
9 insurance company, on how to best articulate getting
10 some services.
11 Chad and I also had some indepth conversations
12 about that, again, kind of commiserating on the
13 situation and, granted, it sounded like the situations
14 were different in that my daughter has some significant
15 special needs; whereas, his son, it sounded like, was
16 more speech specific. So we just talked about how we
17 approach that, how we deal with it, what we do, what
18 some techniques were.
19 So our interaction prior to him being promoted
20 was very friendly in that respect.
21 BY MS. CASTILLO:
22 Q. Okay. What about after he was promoted?
23 A. Initially, it was fine. There was not
24 anything, but it, very quickly, became borderline
25 confrontational because it felt like he was always
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1 watching where I was going everywhere I was going.
2 Q. Okay. Did you have any idea prior to -- you
3 know, we've called it the Bentley incident, but prior to
4 the Bentley incident, that there was this, kind of,
5 monitoring or issue between you and Pfarr?
6 A. Certainly, not before the Bentley incident.
7 Q. Okay. Had you ever, personally, been the butt
8 of the joke or prank at the police department?
9 A. Regularly.
10 Q. And we've heard about the culture at this
11 particular department as this is something that's fairly
12 normal?
13 A. Yeah. This department, in all the time I've
14 been here up to this point, was family environment,
15 joking, first name basis, that kind of stuff.
16 Q. So -- and we've heard, obviously, the testimony
17 of Sergeant Amoroso and even Sergeant Goodwin.
18 Have -- at the point that the Bentley prank was
19 initiated, did you have any reason to believe that that
20 would have gone over the way that it did --
21 A. No.
22 Q. -- between you and Sergeant Pfarr?
23 A. No.
24 Q. When an officer gets promoted to a rank, is
25 that -- or, you know, gets a promotion, is it
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1 commonplace for the type of -- I don't know what
2 Sergeant Pfarr called it, mocking or, you know, false
3 saluting and I think he used the word, hazing, and all
4 of that, that took place at San Luis Obispo Police
5 Department?
6 A. I found that typical not only just of
7 promotions, but of any real selection of any kind of
8 assignment, whether it would have been the S.W.A.T. or
9 motors.
10 Any time someone transitioned to another place
11 that was different from where they were, there's kind of
12 a little bit of a razzing and hazing and joking till
13 people get settled in.
14 THE HEARING OFFICER: I need to take a short
15 break here.
16 MS. CASTILLO: It's a good time.
17 (Recess.)
18 THE HEARING OFFICER: Back on the record with
19 the direct of the appellant.
20 BY MS. CASTILLO:
21 Q. Okay. So when we left off, we were talking
22 about the -- you said razzing that happens when someone
23 gets assigned to a new, either, assignment or promotion.
24 Did that, personally, happen to you?
25 A. Yes.
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1 Q. Describe what happened to you, or an example of
2 what happened to you.
3 A. One example would have been when I first got
4 selected at that time to bicycle assignment. Different
5 times of the school year for Cal Poly, the bicycle unit
6 will get deployed to the neighborhood area where the
7 students predominantly live and we -- the bicycle unit
8 were dispatched to a call that was up a very
9 significantly large hill and the type of call was a
10 fight at a party with a knife and it was odd that we
11 were sent to this call and not a patrol officer in a car
12 that would get there much quicker than us. We even
13 requested on the radio if anybody else was available to
14 go to this call because we were on bicycles.
15 So we were told on the radio that no one else
16 was available. So we started pedaling up this
17 incredibly high hill as fast as possible to the point
18 that, at one point, I got off my bicycle because it was
19 easier just to walk and go faster than to actually ride
20 the bike.
21 But when we arrived at the call, we arrived to
22 the entire night shift patrol in their cars and the
23 supervisor laughing at us, as we're pouring down sweat,
24 breathing deeply. So we had found out that the call
25 was, indeed, fake, that the radio broadcast was fake and
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1 there was, clearly, communication amongst the entire
2 patrol shift that this was going to take place and don't
3 freak out and don't go to this call.
4 Q. Okay. So up a high hill, a fight call?
5 A. Uh-huh.
6 Q. You took it seriously, obviously?
7 A. We didn't have any other way to take it. We
8 asked if there was someone else to go. We had nothing
9 to go off of that would lead us to believe that this was
10 not legitimate, the way it was broadcast.
11 Q. I think you just said that you were told that
12 there were knives involved?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. And it was on the radio?
15 A. On the regular police radio.
16 Q. So, like, an FCC broadcast?
17 A. Anybody with a scanner could have heard that
18 call.
19 Q. Okay. So anyone from another police agency
20 could have heard that call?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. And the entire shift was in on it?
23 A. Could there have not been someone there, sure,
24 but, for the most part, everybody that was working in a
25 car that was there was there.
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1 Q. Supervisors, too?
2 A. Yes.
3 Q. And how many of you were the butt of this joke?
4 A. There were three of us.
5 Q. All brand new guys?
6 A. I was new and the two other -- the sergeant for
7 the bicycle unit and the other officer had been in the
8 unit for a while at that point, but it was clear that
9 the joke was on me as opposed -- but it was,
10 collectively, for our whole unit, obviously, because we
11 all went.
12 Q. All right. Were you working on February 21st,
13 2013?
14 A. Yes.
15 Q. On duty?
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. Let's talk about what you were wearing. I know
18 it's kind of a weird question, but...
19 A. As we've said, I was in a bicycle unit at the
20 time. So our bicycle uniform was a thin mesh-type
21 shirt. We wear swishy pants. Is that an official term?
22 So they're kind of like a bicycle pant, but they're
23 tapered toward your ankle so you don't get your pant
24 legs caught in your gears when you're riding. You wear
25 regular tennis shoes. We don't wear boots. We still
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1 wear vests and regular belts that a patrol officer would
2 wear, but they're not as big and heavy as a regular
3 patrol uniform would be for equipment.
4 Q. Okay. Do you wear a Sam Browne?
5 A. It's the same as a Sam Browne, but its a nylon
6 version. So it's lighter weight.
7 Q. Okay. Same equipment?
8 A. Same equipment.
9 Q. Knife?
10 A. I didn't carry a knife because there was
11 nowhere to carry it.
12 Q. The reason I ask about a knife is because, you
13 know, you heard the testimony of Officer Benson about
14 you with a knife. So did you have a knife that night?
15 A. No, I didn't.
16 Q. And is that the night that you went to the
17 Bentley rollover crash?
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. Now, obviously, though you were assigned to the
20 downtown bike unit, your response was as part of the
21 accident reconstruction team, or the total station?
22 A. My initial response was from the patrol level,
23 if you will. We were working our regular bicycle
24 assignment; albeit, not on a bicycle at the time, our
25 response was preliminary to that. I wanted to go
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1 because it was a rollover. Cars that rollover typically
2 come with injuries.
3 So if there was going to be some sort of an
4 accident reconstruction team response similar to that of
5 a S.W.A.T. response, if there's a S.W.A.T. operator
6 working on a patrol shift and there's a critical
7 incident, they are the first there to kind of assess
8 because they have that higher level of experience to
9 determine whether or not that team needs to come or not.
10 Q. So you're working as patrol, you respond to the
11 Bentley crash.
12 When you were there, do you start assuming your
13 traffic duties or your reconstruction duties at some
14 point?
15 A. When I first got there, we did not -- that was,
16 merely, for an assessment standpoint, as far as I was
17 concerned. I left. I was given a ride back to the
18 station to acquire any equipment because there was
19 determined there was going to be a call-out and I wanted
20 to make sure that we started getting things rolling so
21 we weren't there till all hours of the night.
22 Q. Okay. At your initial response, how did you
23 arrive? You just said not on your bike?
24 A. Correct.
25 Q. How did you get there?
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1 A. Sergeant Amoroso is a fair-weather bicycle
2 rider. It was a little chilly that night. So we were
3 in the pickup truck, the FST truck, as it's been
4 referred to here. So he was driving, I was in the
5 passenger's seat and we drove from downtown to the
6 accident scene.
7 Q. Was there conversation in that car?
8 A. Yes.
9 Q. And what was that conversation?
10 A. The conversation between he and I was that
11 Sergeant Pfarr is a new supervisor, Sergeant Amoroso
12 brought up the fact of wouldn't it be funny to prank
13 him, prank him in a way so much that he would freak out,
14 it would cause someone that is a new supervisor to freak
15 out, and we equally laughed about it.
16 Q. Something consistent with what you just
17 described at like your truck up the big hill?
18 A. That would be consistent with something like
19 that.
20 Q. Okay. Was any specific prank discussed between
21 the two of you?
22 A. No.
23 Q. And then you got to the scene?
24 A. After going back to getting the equipment, I
25 responded back on my own with the equipment and began
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1 setting up. Knowing that the other members of the
2 reconstruction team were coming from their houses at
3 2:00 in the morning, they were probably all sleeping.
4 So I was trying to get ahead of the game to have it set
5 up so, as soon as they arrived, we could get rolling
6 with the diagram.
7 Q. While you were at the scene of the Bentley
8 accident, did you have any conversation with Sergeant
9 Amoroso about pulling a prank on Sergeant Pfarr --
10 A. No.
11 Q. -- at the accident scene?
12 A. No.
13 Q. Who was called out from that traffic team?
14 A. I was already there, obviously, Colleen Kevany
15 was called out, Officer Cudworth, or Robert Cudworth,
16 called out, Sergeant Janice Goodwin responded. I
17 believe that was it.
18 Q. Okay. And what -- what tasks did you perform
19 while you were there?
20 A. My responsibility for the reconstruction
21 portion was going to be the scene diagram. That's,
22 typically, my position. Not a lot of people have
23 knowledge or experience with total station. It is kind
24 of the specialty tool.
25 So, generally, I'm defaulted to the person
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1 operating the total station and directing the other
2 members of the team to the points and positions that I
3 want to record with the machine.
4 Q. Were you able to diagram the scene that
5 evening?
6 A. We acquired the measurements to later diagram
7 the scene.
8 Q. And did that occur?
9 A. I don't believe we actually ended up doing a
10 reconstruction, based on that no one was going to die,
11 no one was even seriously injured. I think we kind of
12 scrapped the whole reconstruction portion of it and just
13 left it as a serious traffic collision that didn't
14 necessarily need the amount of detail of a factual
15 diagram and everything that goes into a reconstruction.
16 Q. Okay. And who was the primary individual
17 responsible for the collision report that evening?
18 A. Colleen Kevany.
19 Q. So the scrapping of the reconstruction, was
20 that your call?
21 A. No.
22 Q. At some point, did you finish the tasks that
23 you were either assigned or self-assigned at the scene
24 of the crash?
25 A. Yes.
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1 Q. And what happened next?
2 A. At that point, we were completed with the
3 evidence-gathering for the total station things and we
4 had called the tow truck driver to come to the scene and
5 there was a process of having to get the car flipped
6 over on its wheels, and so that took time to have that
7 happen.
8 So there was a lot of standing around at that
9 point. We were still responsible for the scene because
10 it was not -- the tow truck driver hadn't taken the
11 vehicle away yet. So there was a lot of standing
12 around, joking, talking, that kind of thing.
13 Q. Other than the members of your department, were
14 there any members of the public around?
15 A. The only person that was not a member of the
16 department that was there was the tow truck driver.
17 Q. Okay. And at the point that you are preparing
18 to get the car to flip back onto its wheels, what
19 happens next?
20 A. I've reflected back to my conversation with
21 Sergeant Amoroso, and given the mood of the people that
22 were there, everybody had kind of already been razzen
23 and Sergeant Pfarr --
24 Q. Wait. Can you describe what they had been
25 already doing to Sergeant Pfarr at that point?
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1 A. There was a lot of joking with him about his
2 new rank, people would accentuate the word, sergeant,
3 when they referred to him, people were saluting at
4 strange, weird times that were not necessarily -- he'd
5 ask somebody something and they'd say, yes, sir,
6 sergeant, sir, and they'd stand at attention and salute
7 him.
8 So there was, clearly, a joking mood about
9 everyone that was there and that was reflective back to
10 my conversation with Sergeant Amoroso in the car.
11 Q. Let me stop you there.
12 There was no fatality, there's no dead body on
13 the scene there or anything like that, right?
14 A. My understanding is it was minor injuries, at
15 best.
16 Q. Okay. So they're joking around with Sergeant
17 Pfarr, you're standing around, waiting for the tow truck
18 driver to flip the car. What happened next?
19 A. So I, at this time, think that I could prank
20 Pfarr a little bit more and I begin to refer to some of
21 the Bentley emblems, the Bentley car, as a whole, the
22 uniqueness of this car, the Bentley emblem, itself.
23 I own a MINI Cooper that has an emblem on it
24 that's similar to a Bentley. So I was talking about
25 how, oh, that Bentley emblem looks like my MINI emblem,
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1 we could put that up or put it on our motorcycles, all
2 these kind of things that would be indicative of
3 something that no one's going to do, but it was a
4 conversation that I was trying to spur amongst the
5 people so that Sergeant Pfarr could hear me.
6 Q. Did you think that your coworkers would take
7 you seriously?
8 A. No.
9 Q. How long had you worked with these people that
10 were present at the scene?
11 A. At this time, I had worked closely with many of
12 the people for the three years while we were in traffic
13 and I'd been there -- we're a small department. You
14 work closely with everybody. So there's not someone you
15 don't know. You may not know them well, but you know of
16 them and what they're about.
17 Q. Okay. Are there car parts on the ground around
18 the Bentley?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. Describe what you see on the ground.
21 A. Parts of the front bumper, wheel caps, side
22 mirrors, glass, it was a convertible car. So a lot of
23 the interior had come out of the car, a lot of personal
24 belongings, things like that.
25 Q. Based on your training and experience, not only
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1 as a police officer, but as this accident
2 reconstructionist, do you have an opinion as to whether
3 or not this car was going to be put back together?
4 A. This car was not going to get put back
5 together.
6 Q. Okay. What happens next?
7 A. At that time, I asked the tow truck driver for
8 a screwdriver and, at which time, he gave it to me. I
9 went back over to the car and I made reference to an
10 emblem on the car, I believe it was the hood emblem,
11 that I bet that thing can come off, we'll use that,
12 we'll have that, something to that effect, but I had the
13 screwdriver in my hand and I went as if I was going to
14 the emblem, but as soon as you got to this emblem, like
15 many other emblems on a car, you can see that it's not
16 going to come off without some force and --
17 Q. Let me stop you.
18 Officer Benson testified to the effect that you
19 were going to peel at it with your finger. Do you
20 recall doing something like that?
21 A. No.
22 Q. Is it possible that you could have -- based on
23 your training, experience and knowledge of this car,
24 could you have peeled a Bentley emblem off with your
25 finger?
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1 A. I don't think you could have peeled it off with
2 your finger.
3 Q. Okay. So what did you do then at the hood of
4 this car?
5 A. I didn't do anything else with the hood emblem
6 on the car.
7 At that time, I looked at the car to see if
8 there something else on this car that is something that
9 could be -- had some notoriety to it, has the same
10 emblem on it, that if it were to come off, it's not
11 going to cause any damage to this car.
12 And I saw on the wheels, like many wheels in
13 common cars, there would be a cap in the middle of the
14 car that covers the lug nuts that hold the wheel on the
15 car. Like many cars nowadays, they try to hide that as
16 a decorative feature. So it's not something that's
17 going to damage the car. It's something that a regular
18 mechanic is going to take that cap off to rotate the
19 tires, to change the tire.
20 So with that same screwdriver, you can insert
21 it in the slot on the side of that cap and there's just
22 retention clips that hold it in there and it pops right
23 off, similar to the one that I saw on the ground that
24 was thrown off the car as a result of the crash.
25 Q. Okay. So what did you do?
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1 A. I popped off the hubcap, trying to get Sergeant
2 Pfarr to see that I was taking this hubcap off the car
3 and I was trying to get him to come over and tell me to
4 knock it off, hey, what are you doing, get him to kind
5 of get a little concerned about what was going on, freak
6 out a little bit.
7 Q. And did he?
8 A. Well, he -- I think he got upset in the
9 opposite direction of what my intent was. He,
10 obviously, became upset at what was going on and he made
11 a comment loud enough that I could hear that the
12 sergeant can't be here for this anymore, I'm leaving,
13 and he turned around and walked away.
14 Q. He did not come up to you and say, hey, stop,
15 put it back, or anything like that?
16 A. No, he did not.
17 Q. What did you do?
18 A. He started walking away to his car and I said
19 loud enough that I thought he could hear me, hey, man,
20 I'm just messing around with you, and he just kept
21 walking to his car and got in the car and drove away.
22 Q. What did you do at that point?
23 A. At that point, I took the hubcap and the other
24 hubcap that was there with it and I put it inside the
25 car, which is typical of these accident scenes, as the
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1 tow truck driver will clean up all the parts and just
2 throw them inside the passenger compartment of the car
3 because it's easier to transport them. So that's where
4 I put them because that's been my experience where all
5 those parts go anyway.
6 Q. So it's been your experience that the tow truck
7 driver will pick up all the debris parts that have
8 surrounded the accident scene and just, collectively,
9 throw them into the car for transport?
10 A. I have regularly seen the tow truck driver
11 sweep up things into a bucket, car parts, kitty litter
12 that they use to clean up fluids, and dump that into an
13 open window of a car into the passenger compartment of
14 the car.
15 Q. So you put all the car parts -- well, you
16 picked -- stop.
17 Did you pick up the car part that you saw on
18 the ground?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. And did you put that into the car?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. The hubcap that you -- or the lug nut cover
23 that you popped off, did you damage it in any way?
24 A. No.
25 Q. Did you put that into the car?
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1 A. Yes.
2 Q. Did you take anything else off the car?
3 A. No.
4 Q. Did you cut the steering wheel or steering
5 column or anything else, at all?
6 A. No.
7 Q. Did you touch the hood emblem, at all?
8 A. No.
9 Q. Did you touch the rear emblem, at all?
10 A. No.
11 Q. Did you ever put anything in a brown paper bag?
12 A. I don't have any recollection of doing that.
13 Certainly, in the course of these types of
14 investigations, there's evidence that is collected that
15 go into brown paper bags, but I don't have any
16 independent recollection of being part of collecting
17 evidence.
18 Q. Okay. But in terms of these emblems that we're
19 talking about as part of this prank, was there any brown
20 paper bag involved in this prank?
21 A. No, there wasn't.
22 Q. Okay. So once you put all these parts back,
23 was the prank over?
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. How long did this entire prank last?
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1 A. Minutes.
2 Q. How well did this prank go over?
3 A. I didn't feel like it went over very well.
4 Q. Did any of your coworkers comment to you at the
5 scene, that you can recall, about your prank?
6 A. Not a single person.
7 Q. Any of your coworkers comment to you about your
8 actions, meaning did they comment that they thought that
9 what you were doing was not, in fact, a joke or a prank?
10 A. No one.
11 Q. What happened after the sergeant said, the
12 sergeant can't be here for this, and walked off?
13 A. Went back to resuming cleaning up our equipment
14 from the total station, getting it in the car because
15 the tow truck driver was going to be leaving soon and we
16 were going to be done with the scene and go home.
17 Q. Any of your coworkers say, man, you sure upset
18 Sergeant Pfarr, or make any comments to that effect to
19 you?
20 A. No.
21 Q. Was Sergeant -- or did you have an awareness
22 that Sergeant Pfarr was watching what you were doing at
23 the time that you had the screwdriver and you were near
24 the vehicle?
25 A. Yes.
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1 Q. Okay. Other than at the point that he said, I
2 can't be here for this anymore, did he make any other
3 statements to you, that you remember?
4 A. No.
5 Q. When you talked to the tow truck driver, other
6 than saying could you borrow the screwdriver, what was
7 your conversation like?
8 A. Well, when I returned the screwdriver to him, I
9 made some casual comment to the effect of, hey, I don't
10 know if you were watching, or whatever, but we were just
11 joking around.
12 Q. Did he say anything to you?
13 A. He kind of awkwardly chuckled as if he didn't
14 really know what I was talking about or he was confused
15 about what I was saying.
16 Q. Did you have any knowledge as to whether or not
17 he had witnessed what you had done?
18 A. I didn't have any specific knowledge.
19 Q. Okay. What happened after you finished up your
20 duties?
21 A. I was putting equipment in my car and my cell
22 phone rang and I picked it up and it was Sergeant Pfarr
23 calling me from his personal phone. So I answered the
24 phone call, hey, what's up, and he immediately was
25 clearly upset. He starts with, you put me in a bad spot
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1 back there, I don't know what you think you were doing,
2 but there's junior officers there, what are you -- what
3 are you trying to do. I said, hey, man, I was just
4 messing around with you. I don't know -- relax. He
5 goes, well, he goes, that was inappropriate and you need
6 to put all that stuff back. I said, Chad, nothing left
7 the car, I was messing around, and he said, okay, well,
8 hurry up and finish out there and come back and see me
9 at the station when you're done.
10 Q. Did you ever send him a text picture of parts
11 in the car?
12 A. Yes.
13 Q. And what was the point of doing that?
14 A. I felt like, based off the phone conversation
15 and him telling me to put the parts back, that he
16 wouldn't necessarily believe that and I wanted to show
17 him, look, here's a photo of the hubcap on the
18 floorboard in the car, there no harm, no foul. I was
19 just messing around.
20 Q. Did you send him the picture of the parts
21 before the phone rang or after?
22 A. After.
23 Q. Did you go to meet him at the station?
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. Approximately, how long was that after you left
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1 the Bentley scene?
2 A. Time to clean up, time to drive back, put the
3 equipment away, walk back to the station from the next
4 door office, it could have been a half-hour.
5 Q. Did you expect, at that point, that he would
6 have calmed down a little bit?
7 A. Yes.
8 MR. PALMER: Objection. Speculation.
9 THE HEARING OFFICER: If you know.
10 BY MS. CASTILLO:
11 Q. What was your expectation?
12 A. My expectation was there was time that would
13 pass that he was probably not as upset as he was when he
14 was at the scene or on the phone.
15 Q. Did he appear upset at the scene?
16 A. I didn't really notice him at the scene because
17 by the time he said that, he was already turned around
18 and walking away. So I didn't necessarily get a look at
19 his facial expressions or anything like that, but from
20 the tone, he was a little irritated.
21 Q. Okay. So you go to the office where Sergeant
22 Pfarr is. Is that his own office or is it the watch
23 commander office or sergeant's office? What office is
24 that?
25 A. That is a common office shared by all the
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1 sergeants.
2 Q. And when you go in there, are you by yourself?
3 A. I was.
4 Q. Closed-door conversation? Do you remember?
5 A. I believe the door was open.
6 Q. Okay. And what happened when you walked in the
7 door?
8 A. When I walk in the door, the office is --
9 there's an L-shaped desk right as you walk in and he was
10 facing away from the doorway. So when I walked in, I
11 said, hey, what's up, because I'm there, and he quickly
12 spun around in the chair and went right back into the
13 same stuff he was saying on the phone about you put me
14 in a bad spot, and we went through all the possible
15 scenarios of what was not good about that and how it
16 could look bad for him, us, the department, all those
17 kinds of things. He, pretty much, chewed my ass.
18 Q. Okay. What was your response, if you had one?
19 A. I was apologetic to him. I was apologetic to
20 the fact that how it could have been perceived, that was
21 not my intention, I was just messing with you, there was
22 no hard feelings, those kinds of things.
23 Q. Did you tell him that it was a joke?
24 A. I believe that was the message that I conveyed
25 by, I was messing with you, and he didn't seek
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1 clarification. So I got that he knew what that meant.
2 Q. Okay. And at that time, did you tell him that
3 you had had that conversation with Sergeant Amoroso that
4 evening about, hey, wouldn't it be funny to play a joke
5 on Chad because he's a new sergeant?
6 A. I did not tell him that.
7 Q. Why not?
8 A. I felt like, based on Sergeant Pfarr's
9 response, how upset he was about it, at that point, I
10 was in a position to just lay on the grenade, so to
11 speak. I didn't want to, necessarily, compromise
12 Sergeant Amoroso for something he said that was my
13 responsibility in making the decision to play the prank.
14 I didn't want to make things worse in the situation, I
15 didn't want to make things worse between he and Sergeant
16 Amoroso, he being Sergeant Pfarr.
17 So I figured, at that point, just drop it,
18 leave it, let the whole thing go away and we'll all move
19 on with it just being a poor decision of a bad prank.
20 Q. Did you ever have any intention of taking and
21 keeping any of those vehicle parts as trophies for a
22 collection or any kind of thing for your traffic office?
23 A. No.
24 Q. When you were in the office with Sergeant
25 Pfarr, did he indicate to you that he had talked to
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1 anyone else on the -- at the scene of the Bentley,
2 meaning your coworkers?
3 A. He did.
4 Q. And what did he say, specifically?
5 A. He told me that he talked to everybody that was
6 there, he told me that he made sure that they knew that
7 he handled it with me and that it was done.
8 Q. And what did you take that to mean?
9 A. I took that as I got verbally disciplined for
10 doing something wrong and he made sure that everybody
11 else knew that he disciplined me or counseled me and it
12 was done.
13 Q. Meaning your coworkers?
14 A. Correct.
15 Q. Did you apologize to Sergeant Pfarr that night?
16 A. I said I was sorry for putting him in that
17 position and playing a prank.
18 Q. When you left the office that evening, did you
19 feel like the issue between yourself and Sergeant Pfarr
20 had been resolved?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. Did you feel like it had been clearly
23 communicated to Sergeant Pfarr that your intention that
24 night with the Bentley had been to play a practical joke
25 on him and sorry it was a crappy one?
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1 A. Certainly, in retrospect, I think I could have
2 explained it better, but I think for what it was and my
3 understanding walking out of the office was we were on
4 common ground with what happened and what took place and
5 we were both going to move forward.
6 Q. After that evening, did you have another
7 conversation with Sergeant Pfarr about what happened at
8 that Bentley scene?
9 A. No.
10 Q. When was the next time you heard about the
11 Bentley event, or the Bentley incident, being brought
12 up?
13 A. It was December 30th, 2013. So it was ten
14 months later when I was having a conversation with
15 Sergeant Amoroso at his house.
16 Q. And how did that take place?
17 A. I went over there to borrow some Loctite glue
18 or something, some project or something, and we were
19 just talking about the project I was working on and then
20 that kind of blended into me expressing my frustrations
21 with how long things were taking because I had already
22 been on admin leave at that point for 18 days.
23 Q. And why were you on administrative leave?
24 A. I was placed on administrative leave for what
25 we've been referring to as the CAT incident or texting
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1 incident.
2 Q. Did you have any idea that you were being
3 investigated, at that point, for the Bentley matter?
4 A. No.
5 Q. And what happened next?
6 A. Um, Sergeant Amoroso, in response to my
7 expressions of frustration in the length of time, was,
8 oh, well, they're probably still working on the Bentley
9 incident, and he referred to it as the Bentley crash,
10 but he said, well, you remember that Bentley that
11 crashed earlier, I said, yeah, he goes, well, I guess
12 they're -- they're doing an IA on that, and I was very
13 taken aback by what he was saying and I think he saw my
14 facial expression because I didn't have a response and
15 he immediately said, yeah, well, I talked to Chad,
16 Sergeant Pfarr, and he told me that he got ordered to
17 write a memo and that Chad told Amoroso that Amoroso
18 might be interviewed at some point.
19 So that was a conversation that they had that
20 Amoroso related to me.
21 Q. And that was the first time you even knew there
22 was a Bentley investigation into your actions?
23 A. Correct.
24 Q. Up until this point, had you ever been on
25 administrative leave before?
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1 A. No.
2 Q. So when you're talking about the 18 days
3 seeming very long, you had nothing to compare that to?
4 A. Nothing.
5 Q. Have you ever been disciplined, significant
6 suspension, or anything like that?
7 A. No significance.
8 Q. All right. I want to go, kind of, backwards.
9 We've heard testimony that Sergeant Pfarr, once
10 promoted, became your supervisor over the CAT shift
11 detail?
12 A. There were occasions where he was the day shift
13 sergeant. So in that respect, he would have been
14 responsible supervisor over those working CAT, which I
15 was working.
16 Q. At the point that he became your sergeant and
17 at the point that you learned that he, perhaps, did not
18 consider you to be one of his favorite people, were you
19 concerned that he was one of your direct supervisors?
20 A. I was.
21 THE HEARING OFFICER: Who are we talking about
22 now? Sergeant Pfarr?
23 MS. CASTILLO: Pfarr.
24 THE HEARING OFFICER: Okay.
25 ///
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1 BY MS. CASTILLO:
2 Q. How is it that you learned that, perhaps, you
3 were not one of his favorite people?
4 A. The first time I became aware of it was when I
5 returned from our Europe vacation.
6 Q. And when was that?
7 A. July 3rd, 2013.
8 Q. And when did you leave for Europe?
9 A. We left June 9th.
10 Q. And how was it that you learned that Sergeant
11 Pfarr -- well, how would you characterize Sergeant
12 Pfarr's opinion of you as it was related to you and by
13 whom?
14 A. Well, when I got back from Europe, that was my
15 first shift back, was July 3rd, and the beginning of
16 shift, Sergeant Amoroso asked me into the office, we
17 closed the door and he told me that he had to talk to me
18 about something that happened before I left for Europe.
19 I said okay. He goes -- and he continued with, I don't
20 know why he didn't just handle it with you, but Pfarr
21 wants me to talk to you about him catching you in the
22 office, or something, watching a movie. I said okay.
23 He goes -- he continued with, consider it we've talked
24 about it. I said, is that it? He goes, I don't know, I
25 wasn't there, I don't know why he didn't handle it with
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1 you, I don't know why he waited for you to go to Europe
2 to tell me about it, if he was there and he was your
3 sergeant, I don't know why he didn't handle it with you.
4 I said, okay. He goes, I don't know, we're done. I
5 said, okay.
6 He said, on a side note to that, you have to
7 understand that he is, likely, going to be your
8 supervisor come January, and this would have been
9 January of 2014 now, and you have to understand, I don't
10 know why, but, clearly, he's got it out for you and you
11 need to watch what you're doing. I thanked him for the
12 recommendation and that ended our meeting.
13 Q. Why was he going to become your supervisor in
14 January 2014?
15 A. Sergeant Amoroso was currently my supervisor on
16 the bicycle shift and, typically, the newest-promoted
17 sergeant, once they spend a particular rotation time,
18 usually it's one full rotation or whenever that rotation
19 time comes back around to the current downtown bicycle
20 sergeant being rotated out, that most newest sergeant
21 usually gets sent downtown because it's the least
22 desirable of the sergeant positions that they can work.
23 So Sergeant Amoroso was coming out in January
24 2014 and it was very likely in that Sergeant Pfarr had
25 now worked almost two rotations on patrol, there was a
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1 very high likelihood that he was going to go to bikes in
2 January and that was what Sergeant Amoroso was telling
3 me.
4 Q. So do you recall the watching a movie and when
5 it happened?
6 A. Yes.
7 Q. Okay. First, when did it happen?
8 A. I don't recall the specific day, but I know it
9 was in the month of May.
10 Q. So wait. It was not in October?
11 A. No, it was not.
12 Q. What year was it in?
13 A. 2013.
14 Q. May 2013. Were there two movie incidents or
15 one?
16 A. There was one movie incident.
17 Q. Okay. And tell us about the movie incident in
18 May of 2013.
19 A. I was working a CAT shift by myself at this
20 time. Like I said before, these were specific to
21 single-officer shifts. You wear a regular patrol
22 uniform, poly-wool blend, you wear all your regular
23 uniform, you're out, walking downtown, it's sometimes
24 warm here and you're walking around, there's not really
25 anywhere to stop and break. So the downtown office is
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1 typically used by the bicycle team to store equipment,
2 write reports, things like that.
3 At this time, it was about 1:00. I had already
4 been in the shift for about two hours and I took it to
5 take a break at that point. There was going to be
6 another three hours of the shift at this point. So I
7 thought this would be a good time to take a break.
8 So I got myself a little snack, which was just
9 one little barbecue slider from an amazing little
10 barbecue place downtown, and went back to the downtown
11 office because there's also an air-conditioner in the
12 downtown office. So I sat down, ate my little slider, I
13 had on the TV an AR-15 building video. And the reason I
14 know --
15 Q. What's an AR-15?
16 A. An AR-15 is a style of rifle. It's often
17 referred to as an assault rifle, common terminology.
18 It's something that we use on the S.W.A.T. team, it's
19 something I used as a sniper on the S.W.A.T team.
20 Q. Okay. Continue.
21 A. So, at this time, I was working on building a
22 rifle for my use as a sniper on the S.W.A.T. team. We
23 didn't have any semi-automatic rifles on the team. We
24 only had bolt-action rifles. So I was in the process of
25 teaching myself how to build a rifle with the components
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1 involved.
2 So I took a couple minutes while I was eating
3 my slider while taking my quick break to catch a couple
4 minutes of this video so that I could build this rifle
5 that we could use it on the team.
6 Q. So does Sergeant Pfarr come into the downtown
7 office at this time?
8 A. Yes, he does.
9 Q. And you're on an overtime shift at this point?
10 A. Correct.
11 Q. Had you worked before -- or the night before or
12 were you working afterwards? Do you know?
13 A. I don't recall what day of the week it was. So
14 it would just have depended on what day of the week that
15 was.
16 Typically, these shifts were on days where I
17 was already working. So it would carry over into my
18 next shift or close thereto. So I would work 16 hours
19 that day, but this could have been a day where it was
20 just that shift. So it would have been a five-hour
21 shift from 11 to 4. I don't recall that specific day.
22 Q. We heard some testimony that this video was,
23 from Sergeant Pfarr, a Marvel video. Is that correct?
24 A. That is inaccurate.
25 Q. So Sergeant Pfarr comes into the downtown bike
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1 office. What happens next?
2 A. The office has, kind of, a hallway. So you
3 have to walk about three feet into the hallway before
4 there's a doorway into the room. So he comes to the
5 doorway edge of the room, kind of, with his hands on his
6 hips. He's all, what are you doing? I said, just
7 taking a quick break, and he goes, oh, okay, you about
8 done? I said, about done. He said -- he asked me, you
9 want to go get a cup of coffee then? I said, sure.
10 So I threw the last bite of slider in my mouth
11 and we got up and walked to the Starbucks, which is
12 practically connected to that same building, which is
13 maybe a one-minute walk from the office.
14 Q. And so you went and got coffee?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. Did -- at that time when you were having --
17 well, did you have coffee together or did you just get a
18 cup of coffee and go back to your shift?
19 A. We both got a cup of coffee. We were both
20 together. It's in the downtown center. It's a group of
21 businesses, restaurants, things like that. So we
22 actually had run into some citizens who had some
23 questions. We talked to them for a few minutes, um,
24 answered what they had and we parted ways from them, the
25 citizens. He and I walked back toward where his car was
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1 parked by the downtown bicycle office and he got in the
2 car and I continued with my downtown foot patrol shift.
3 Q. So how long were you in Starbucks for?
4 A. Five minutes, however long it takes to make
5 coffee.
6 Q. Okay. During that time that you spent with
7 him, did he ever say anything to you about being in the
8 downtown office and eating?
9 A. No, he did not.
10 Q. Did he say anything to you about being in the
11 downtown office and watching any kind of program?
12 A. No, he did not.
13 Q. In May of 2013, did he mention that event to
14 you at any point again?
15 A. No, he did not.
16 Q. Ever, did he mention that to you again about
17 that day?
18 A. I never heard of the movie incident again until
19 Sergeant Amoroso told me about it.
20 I take that back. While we were in Europe, I
21 received an e-mail from my bicycle partner, Brent
22 Inglehart, and the reason I remember that is because we
23 didn't really have cell phone service. We only had Wifi
24 service when we were at our house we rented.
25 So an e-mail came through from Brent Inglehart
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1 and he wanted to give me some heads-up what was going on
2 back here. In the course of his e-mail, he told me that
3 he was on the other end of a vent from Sergeant Amoroso
4 and how upset Sergeant Amoroso was with Sergeant Pfarr
5 that Sergeant Pfarr was putting the movie incident on
6 him to handle and Brent wanted me to have a heads-up so
7 I wasn't blindsided when I returned home from Europe.
8 Q. The movie incident?
9 A. Correct.
10 Q. So when you had the conversation with Sergeant
11 Amoroso when you returned, did you ever go and have a
12 conversation later with Sergeant Pfarr?
13 A. No.
14 Q. Because you were informed that it had been
15 handled by Sergeant Amoroso?
16 A. That was what Sergeant Amoroso conveyed to me
17 in our meeting.
18 Q. When you spoke with Sergeant Pfarr that day in
19 May, did he appear to be angry?
20 A. No.
21 Q. Did he appear to be concerned?
22 A. No.
23 Q. After that time when you had heard from
24 Sergeant Amoroso about Sergeant Pfarr's displeasure, did
25 you make it a practice to watch movies in the downtown
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1 bike office while eating sliders or any other kind of
2 snack?
3 A. No.
4 Q. And now Brent Inglehart knows not to watch
5 movies and eat sliders, also?
6 A. I'd have to speculate on what Officer Inglehart
7 would --
8 THE HEARING OFFICER: You don't need to
9 speculate about that.
10 BY MS. CASTILLO:
11 Q. Okay. Had you ever heard anything from any of
12 the sergeants while you were working the CAT shift about
13 your statistics?
14 A. The only time I heard about statistics was from
15 Sergeant Amoroso during our meeting.
16 Q. And when was this meeting?
17 A. That was the same meeting.
18 Q. When you returned in July of 2013?
19 A. Correct. That was part of that same meeting
20 wherein that was part of Sergeant Pfarr's assessment of
21 me in the office to Sergeant Amoroso, was that Sergeant
22 Pfarr had pulled my statistics for these CAT shifts that
23 I was working and he -- he conveyed to Sergeant Amoroso
24 that my statistics were unsatisfactory.
25 Q. Did he ever say, exactly, how he pulled these
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1 statistics?
2 A. Sergeant Amoroso did not say that there was any
3 comparison or who it was in relation to.
4 Q. Or what these statistics were?
5 A. No.
6 Q. Is this -- did he -- so you don't know if this
7 was the I listened to the radio traffic and that's what
8 the statistics were?
9 A. There was no qualification as to what
10 statistics were based on.
11 Q. Okay. What was your thoughts or -- at the
12 point that you learned that this was the opinion of
13 Sergeant Pfarr in July of 2013, what did you do, if
14 anything?
15 A. At this point, I became very guarded with him
16 and how I would interact with him and how open and
17 communicative I was going to be with him at that point
18 because it was becoming clear to me that what I was
19 doing with and around him was being misrepresented to
20 other people, especially my immediate supervisor.
21 Q. Had you ever seen your statistics for the CAT
22 shift?
23 A. No.
24 Q. After this conversation, did you attempt to get
25 out of the bicycle patrol unit?
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1 A. Uh, I, at that point, like I said earlier, was
2 working on building my resume as far as the assignments
3 that I had worked, and in August, September of 2013,
4 there were a host of other special assignments that were
5 going to be available. The testing process was going to
6 be at that time; however, the assignments were not going
7 to be taken until January of '14.
8 So, at that time, there were several detective
9 assignments, a daytime bicycle assignment, there may
10 have been another, but I had applied for the daytime
11 bicycle assignment, I applied for the county narcotics
12 task force, I applied for our city special enforcement
13 team and I applied for the regular detective spot, which
14 would have been a property people's crimes kind of a
15 detective position.
16 Q. Under those special assignments, would you have
17 been supervised by Sergeant Pfarr?
18 A. If I went to the daytime bicycle assignment, he
19 would have still been my immediate supervisor.
20 Q. For the other assignments?
21 A. He would not have been.
22 Q. In fall 2013, did you approach the chief about
23 any of the openings for the detective spots?
24 A. Yes, I did.
25 Q. And was he encouraging, in any way, to you in
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1 terms of putting in for those positions?
2 A. He was not.
3 Q. What do you mean?
4 A. I had requested a meeting with the chief, as I
5 had not spoken to him since our January exit interview
6 from the sergeant position when Sergeant Pfarr was
7 promoted. It was kind of a touch base kind of a
8 meeting. As I said before, the last time we talked, he
9 thought I had a lack of commitment to this organization.
10 So I wanted to kind of get a sense from him not only
11 what he was looking for in detectives -- being narcotics
12 officers in this department, we kind of had a sense from
13 past chiefs what the expectation was, but I wanted to
14 hear from him, just as a preparation to going into the
15 interview. I'm sure he would have given the oral board
16 people an idea of what he was looking for. It's his
17 department.
18 So when I went to meet with him, it was an
19 identical meeting from January. I would characterize it
20 as nothing had changed in his mind about me since
21 January. He brought up the same incidents, he brought
22 up the same things. In fact, he even went so far as to
23 say that I should have taken the opportunity to clear my
24 name with the accusation related to the PT test.
25 Q. The looking at your watch when you weren't even
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1 on -- when you didn't even take the test?
2 A. Correct.
3 Q. What do you mean? Didn't you already clear
4 your name in January?
5 A. That was what he said, he wanted to give me the
6 opportunity to clear my name, that was my opportunity to
7 do that because it was his perception that, from what he
8 was told, that that led to me having a lack of
9 commitment. So he wanted me to clear my name, somehow
10 or another, from that.
11 Q. Did he explain to you how you were supposed to
12 do that?
13 A. No.
14 Q. Other than say that it was impossible?
15 A. What I got from it was that he wanted some
16 level of a verbal response at that time, that I needed
17 to qualify myself to him, or something, in that moment.
18 That's what I got from what he was saying. That was my
19 perception of that conversation, and, at that point, in
20 August, September, I felt like there was nothing I was
21 going to be able to say or do to change his perception
22 of me he now has. I was working all this overtime,
23 doing all this preparation for these assignments and I
24 didn't think that -- clearly, nothing was going to
25 change in his mind about me.
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1 So I decided to pull my applications from those
2 detective assignments because it was clear I was not
3 what he was looking for.
4 Q. Did you pull your application from all those
5 detective assignments?
6 A. Yes, I did.
7 Q. When did you do that?
8 A. It was shortly after our meeting and shortly
9 after my submitting the applications.
10 Q. And so that would have been in fall 2013?
11 A. It was somewhere in the month of August or
12 early September. Before the oral boards took place, I
13 pulled my applications for those.
14 Q. And this is right around when it became your
15 understanding that Sergeant Pfarr became aware that you
16 were -- but that you had put in applications for these
17 detective spots?
18 A. At the time, I was not aware that he was aware.
19 Now I am, but, at the time, I had no knowledge. I was
20 not worried about what other people, at that point,
21 Sergeant Pfarr, in particular, thought or cared about me
22 going into these assignments. I was looking to improve
23 myself and, hopefully, get one of these spots.
24 Q. Okay. Were you encouraged by the people in the
25 Detective Bureau?
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1 A. I received nothing but positive feedback from
2 everybody else that I spoke to about applying and
3 getting these positions and seeking and getting
4 assistance from these people as far as recommendations.
5 Q. Who was the lieutenant at the time who was in
6 charge of the Detective Bureau?
7 A. Lieutenant Bledsoe.
8 Q. That is the individual who investigated you for
9 the CAT shift?
10 A. Correct.
11 Q. Did you ever talk to him about your interest in
12 the detective positions?
13 A. I did.
14 Q. What was that conversation like?
15 A. Uh, I felt like it was more functional, it was
16 more of what are the roles and responsibilities, what
17 are your expectations of the -- of your subordinates in
18 this unit, but nothing in the way of don't apply, don't
19 put in, nothing like that.
20 Q. Okay. Did you talk to him after you pulled
21 your application? Did he ever speak to you about that?
22 A. No.
23 Q. Did you know that he had the impression that
24 you were dishonest?
25 A. Not at that time.
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1 Q. We've heard some testimony of the duration
2 period of the CAT shift, that it's typically from 11 to
3 4.
4 Was that fairly set in stone, based on your
5 experience?
6 A. No, it wasn't.
7 Q. Can you describe what your experience was?
8 A. My experience with it was that there was
9 extreme flexibility, not only with emergencies, small
10 adjustments of 15 minutes to half an hour, but I also
11 had personal experiences where other officers that I was
12 scheduled to work with had significant childcare issues
13 related to a shift that they were assigned and I was
14 informed by those officers that the entire time frame
15 had been adjusted, not that we were going to work a
16 half-hour less or half-hour over, it was going to be,
17 instead of working 11 to 4, we were going to work 10 to
18 3 or noon to 5.
19 And I never verified this, I never
20 double-checked who or if they ran that by anybody. I
21 just showed up when that officer -- my partner officer
22 told me to show up and we worked those hours.
23 Q. When that occurred, were you ever notified that
24 that was inappropriate by the watch commander of the
25 day?
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1 A. No.
2 Q. Were you ever told by the lieutenant who was in
3 charge of the CAT shift that that was inappropriate or
4 unacceptable?
5 A. No.
6 Q. Now, generally, for the time period that you
7 participated in the CAT overtime, was your supervisor
8 Lieutenant Smith, other than your direct supervisor on
9 the days that Lieutenant Smith was not available?
10 A. To my knowledge, the way the program -- he was
11 the supervisor of the program, if you will, he managed
12 the program, if you will, and -- but it was, generally,
13 my experience that he would kind of delegate that
14 day-to-day management responsibility to whomever the day
15 shift sergeant was.
16 Q. Okay. We've heard some testimony that it was
17 the senior officers -- or seniority was the way in which
18 overtime was assigned for CAT shift; is that correct?
19 A. Correct.
20 Q. Why -- do you have any knowledge as to why
21 seniority was a factor in shift assignment?
22 A. My understanding of it is that the way the
23 Memorandum of Understanding with the Officers
24 Association and the city is that overtime is
25 seniority-based and on a sign-up basis.
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1 So you sign up and then the person that's
2 assigning the overtime would identify who is the most
3 senior person and work down the list.
4 Q. Okay. Throughout the time that you had
5 volunteered your time to work overtime, I guess it
6 wouldn't be voluntary, but signed up for overtime and
7 approved to do so, had you ever been late?
8 A. On occasion.
9 Q. Had you ever left early?
10 A. On occasion.
11 Q. And had you ever been -- had you been aware of
12 other officers who had been late?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. Had you ever seen other officers that left
15 early?
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. And what happens when officers are late for the
18 shift, typically?
19 A. Typically, if someone was late, they could
20 receive a verbal reprimand from the supervisor or,
21 depending on circumstance or repetitiveness, the
22 supervisor could designate to have a formal write-up or
23 supervisor's note in their file.
24 Q. Okay. And that's in terms of if they were
25 disciplined?
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1 A. Yes.
2 Q. Did it ever occur, based on your personal
3 experience, that officers who were on the CAT shift who
4 came in late or left early were not disciplined?
5 A. I was not aware of any incidences where people
6 were written up.
7 Q. Okay. So when you were speaking about what
8 could happen if someone is late, were you speaking
9 generally?
10 A. Generally, and that's my understanding of what
11 could happen.
12 Q. Okay. Based on policy?
13 A. Correct.
14 Q. Okay. If officers were late for a CAT shift,
15 were there occasions where they would add that time that
16 they were late to the end of the shift to make it that
17 five-hour block or four-hour block that they were
18 expected to be there for the time period?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. What was the point in that?
21 A. The point was that you were assigned to work
22 the five hours and you fulfilled your obligation of that
23 assignment to work the full five hours.
24 Q. Was that a common occurrence on the CAT shift?
25 A. It was a regular occurrence.
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1 Q. Did you sometimes trade CAT shifts with other
2 officers?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. And how did those shift trades occur?
5 A. It varied. Sometimes if it was a planned
6 event, there was communication between the lieutenant
7 that you were unavailable to work a shift and they had
8 someone in line to do it, and if it was a planned event
9 and you communicated with the lieutenant, sometimes the
10 lieutenant said just handle it yourself. If you can
11 find someone, find someone. Officers would then send
12 out an e-mail to the whole department, hey, I can't work
13 my shift in a month, can you work my shift, and people
14 can respond to that.
15 In several instances, I received direct e-mails
16 because everyone knew I was working the shift. I had
17 people all the time, hey, you work the shift a lot, will
18 you take my shift on this day? Absolutely, I'll take
19 it. Okay, cool, I'll tell lieutenant or can you tell
20 him or there was no communication about who was going to
21 notify anybody, I was just going to work it.
22 There were other instances where there was
23 attempted communication with the lieutenant and there
24 was no reply and people were like, I haven't heard back
25 from him, are you still going to work it? I'm like,
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1 I'll work it and we'll deal with it later. Someone
2 needs to work it. We're not going to just leave it
3 empty. So it just depended on all the different
4 factors.
5 Q. Did you find that the communication with the
6 scheduling lieutenant, Lieutenant Smith, was very good
7 regarding the CAT shift scheduling?
8 A. I thought his communication was poor.
9 Q. Were you on time for your shift on October
10 19th, 2013?
11 A. No, I wasn't.
12 Q. Why not?
13 A. There was some childcare scheduling conflicts
14 leading up to that and I was running behind, getting --
15 getting to work.
16 Q. Did you know the day before that you were going
17 to be late for your CAT shift?
18 A. No, I didn't.
19 Q. Did you know hours before that you were going
20 to be late for your CAT shift?
21 A. Not hours.
22 Q. Tell us exactly when you knew you were going to
23 be late for your CAT shift, if you know.
24 A. It was somewhere around 10: 15.
25 Q. So what happened next?
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1 A. At 10: 15?
2 Q. (Nods head.)
3 A. I had a suspicion that it was probably not
4 going to happen, but there was a possibility of me
5 making it on time. I sent Adam Stahnke a text message
6 letting him know that I might be late.
7 Q. Why Adam Stahnke?
8 A. I knew he was going to be my partner for that
9 day because I had already checked days before that or
10 the week before that and I had it in my schedule who I
11 was working with. I knew it was going to be him and --
12 Q. What did you check?
13 A. The only place to check, which was SpeedShift.
14 Q. Then what?
15 A. I sent him the message and went back to caring
16 for my daughters at their dance class.
17 Q. Okay. What happened next?
18 A. Um, as we started approaching toward 11: 00, my
19 wife was running behind to this other engagement she was
20 at and she was going to pick up our daughters from the
21 dance class that was going to be the exchange. They
22 were five and seven at this time and the older daughter
23 has special needs. So she's more on a developmental
24 level of, like, a three-year-old. So you have to really
25 be there and you have to monitor her all the time. So
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1 there was no ability to leave them there and go. So it
2 was unforeseen, and once my wife was there, I
3 immediately jumped in the car and headed to work and
4 tried to be as timely as possible.
5 Q. Okay. Approximately, how late were you?
6 A. I believe I pulled in the gate at 11: 15 and I
7 was in the locker room by 11: 20.
8 Q. Okay. Did you know who your supervisor was
9 that day?
10 A. Prior to that day, I did not, but I became
11 aware of who it was, Sergeant Pfarr, when he texted me.
12 Q. Okay. When you received the text from Sergeant
13 Pfarr, where were you?
14 A. I believe I was on the freeway, somewhere just
15 south here of San Luis Obispo.
16 Q. So you were driving?
17 A. Correct.
18 THE HEARING OFFICER: Can I just clarify
19 something? When you testified that his communication
20 was poor, were you talking about Lieutenant Smith or
21 Sergeant Pfarr?
22 THE WITNESS: My statement there was about
23 Lieutenant Smith related to his communication of the CAT
24 shift.
25 THE HEARING OFFICER: In general?
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1 THE WITNESS: In general.
2 THE HEARING OFFICER: Okay.
3 BY MS. CASTILLO:
4 Q. And just to clarify on that, was that in
5 response to back and forth shift trades and scheduling
6 matters?
7 A. It was more specific to modifications, changes.
8 Q. Can I come in late, is this flexing okay, is
9 this shift change okay, trade okay?
10 A. All of those things.
11 Q. Okay. I'm going to turn you to City's Exhibit
12 10.
13 THE HEARING OFFICER: Appellant's 10?
14 MS. CASTILLO: No. City's 10.
15 THE HEARING OFFICER: Department 10. Okay.
16 MS. CASTILLO: Department's 10.
17 BY MS. CASTILLO:
18 Q. Text messages. You've seen these before,
19 correct?
20 A. Correct.
21 Q. Just for the record, the bubbles are supposed
22 to be in color, correct?
23 A. Yes.
24 Q. If these were in color, what color would they
25 be?
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1 A. I think the darker color bubbles would be green
2 or gray. I think they're green, and I think the -- you
3 can't see the bubbles on the left side of the page
4 because they're probably in a white or light-colored
5 gray.
6 Q. Would your communications be to the left or to
7 the right?
8 A. My communications are on the left.
9 Q. Okay. Department's Exhibit 10 are the
10 communications that you had with Sergeant Pfarr as you
11 were driving to your CAT shift?
12 A. Yes, they were.
13 Q. Okay. This shows that, at 11: 11, he sent you
14 three text messages, wondering if you were coming in,
15 correct?
16 A. Correct.
17 Q. So at this point, you were 11 minutes late for
18 your shift?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. Okay. Your first response was, "I had worked
21 out ahead of one with LT Smith. I'm on the way in now."
22 Do you recall typing this?
23 A. I recall typing.
24 Q. Okay. Sergeant Pfarr testified that he didn't
25 ask you what any of these text messages meant. Do you
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1 recall hearing that testimony?
2 A. Yes.
3 Q. Well, I'm going to ask you what these text
4 messages meant. Okay?
5 A. Okay.
6 Q. What did this text message mean?
7 A. This message is saying, yes, I'm coming in.
8 The sorry is for not communicating it to him because
9 he's, obviously, looking for me. I'm relating to him
10 that I'd worked out ahead -- others, is what that's
11 supposed to say, with Lieutenant Smith, and, clearly,
12 there's an auto correct by my phone to change those
13 words.
14 Q. So "ahead of one" should have been "others"?
15 A. Correct.
16 Q. Okay. And when you said, "I had worked out
17 ahead of one," you're saying it should have meant I had
18 worked out ahead of others with Lieutenant Smith?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. Okay. What were you trying to communicate to
21 Sergeant Pfarr when you wrote that?
22 A. I was trying to communicate to him my
23 understanding from the past practices that I had
24 operating with in this program, that shift-adjusting was
25 acceptable and I'm on the way now and I'll explain when
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1 I get there.
2 Q. His response, "That makes no sense. Stop by
3 when you get here." Okay?
4 A. Yes.
5 Q. And you respond to that, correct?
6 A. Correct.
7 Q. "Basically, I talked to Smith yesterday about
8 coming in at 11: 30. He said fine, no problem, but I
9 will stop by."
10 Page 2 is where the entirety of that text is.
11 Do you see that?
12 A. Yes.
13 Q. Okay. Can you -- the only punctuation in this
14 text is after the word, problem; is that correct?
15 A. Correct.
16 Q. Can you explain this text message?
17 A. This is a quick response message, it's
18 fragmented, it's got brevity to it and it, certainly,
19 needs more punctuation for what I was trying to explain.
20 Q. So what were you trying to convey?
21 A. What I'm trying to convey in this message is --
22 basically, it's a summarization. "I had talked to Smith
23 yesterday," and there should be what would be a period,
24 a formal conversation there, about me coming in at
25 11: 30, which is an estimation of this point in time of
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1 driving, I'm probably going to be ready to go, suited up
2 at 11: 30. He's okay with that, and that should be he's,
3 not he said. He's, again, another auto correct. He's
4 fine with adjusting. Again, these are fragment -- these
5 are things in my mind and there's no problem with that,
6 is my understanding of what's gone on in the past and
7 what I had intended to do today.
8 Q. Okay. So, basically, I talked to Smith
9 about -- basically, I talked to Smith yesterday. Are
10 you saying there should be a period after that?
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. What was your conversation with Smith
13 yesterday?
14 A. It wasn't much of a conversation. It was
15 exchanging pleasantries. We saw each other in the
16 locker room and, to me, in saying that, at that time,
17 was me trying to convey that he didn't say anything to
18 me. I had been operating in this program with an
19 understanding of how things were going and no one had
20 said anything to me about I was doing anything wrong,
21 anything should change, and yesterday I saw him and that
22 was an opportunity for him to correct something that was
23 going on that was unapproved.
24 Q. Okay. Did you think that there was any problem
25 if you were going to be slightly late?
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1 A. I did not think there was going to be a
2 problem.
3 Q. Did you think that there was going to be any
4 issue with you being slightly late?
5 A. I did not think there was going to be an issue.
6 Q. Did you think that if you had seen Lieutenant
7 Smith, that he would have said something to you when you
8 saw him?
9 A. I thought that if there was a problem or there
10 was an issue going on, that I would have been told about
11 it.
12 Q. And where was this that you saw him?
13 A. I saw Smith the prior day in the locker room.
14 Q. And what was the time period or the time span
15 in which you saw him?
16 A. I was -- it was in the afternoon and I want to
17 say it was around 3:00, 4:00, probably, and I was
18 already in the locker room and he came in the locker
19 room and started changing out of his uniform. I never
20 left the locker room. I was there the whole time and he
21 finished changing and left.
22 Q. Okay. There's a period at the word, yesterday.
23 Should the word, about, be capitalized?
24 A. It would be capitalized if it was after a
25 period.
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1 Q. So about coming in at 11: 30, is it your
2 understanding that that would be fine, no problem?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. Is that about the span that you would believe
5 would be within this flexible time period?
6 A. Yes, based on several other incidents where I
7 had adjusted that and worked over for another half an
8 hour on previous occasions. So I didn't think there was
9 going to be any problem.
10 Q. Had you ever been informed by Lieutenant Smith
11 that that had been an issue?
12 A. No.
13 Q. Had you ever been informed by Sergeant Pfarr
14 that that had been an issue?
15 A. No.
16 Q. Had you ever been informed by any of the other
17 sergeants who assumed the watch commander duties over
18 the CAT shift on the dates when Lieutenant Smith was not
19 present that it was an issue if you were late up to and
20 including 30 minutes?
21 A. No one, at any time, told me anything related
22 to what I was doing was not okay.
23 Q. Was this a regular problem with you coming in
24 30 minutes late?
25 A. I had some ongoing childcare issues. My wife
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1 works full time, as well, and we overlap schedules, and
2 I, on several occasions, gave that information to
3 Lieutenant Smith and he was aware of it, and each time
4 we've had those passing conversations, he was okay with
5 it, and he -- his response to me in those times was,
6 yeah, no problem, just let whoever know is here.
7 Q. And would you let them know when you came in or
8 before?
9 A. It would just depend on the circumstance.
10 Q. So if you had noticed, would you tell him
11 before?
12 A. Yes.
13 Q. If it happened that you were late because you
14 got held up, would you tell him when you got there?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. Were you ever disciplined when you came in late
17 and you said, hey, I'm here, sorry I'm late?
18 A. I have never been disciplined, in any form, for
19 being late or leaving early.
20 Q. So about coming in at 11: 30, he said fine, no
21 problem. Your testimony is this should say he said
22 fine, no problem?
23 A. Yeah. He's, as in he has in the past.
24 Q. Okay. So that would be a comma after fine, as
25 well?
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1 A. Correct.
2 Q. Okay. And then now you say, "but I will stop
3 by." Should there also be a period after "stop by"?
4 A. Yes.
5 Q. Did you stop by to speak to Sergeant Pfarr?
6 A. Yes, I did.
7 Q. Did you explain this text message?
8 A. I was not really given that opportunity.
9 Q. Explain that.
10 A. When I got to work and got my uniform on, I
11 went to the office, as Sergeant Pfarr requested. When I
12 got to the office, again, it's the same setup as before.
13 There's the L-desk, he's facing away from the doorway.
14 When I walked in, I said, hey, what's up. He spun
15 around in his chair, he was visibly upset with me, and I
16 got from that, from the tone in his voice because he
17 immediately started asking me questions and was
18 interrogating me about where I was, and he asked me
19 where I was, I said I was at my daughter's dance class.
20 Q. Were you at a dance recital?
21 A. There was no dance recital.
22 Q. What happens next?
23 A. He next asked me, you saw Smith yesterday? I
24 replied, I saw Smith yesterday. He next asked me, he's
25 okay with you coming in late? My reply was, he's okay
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1 with it. He said, okay, Stahnke's been waiting a while,
2 get out there, and that was the end of our conversation
3 in the office.
4 Q. Did you ever tell Sergeant Pfarr that you had
5 spoken to Smith yesterday and that he had given you
6 specific permission to come in on the 19th late?
7 A. At no time did I ever tell him that I got
8 permission from Lieutenant Smith the day before to be
9 late on the 19th.
10 Q. And was -- what was your point in conveying to
11 you -- or what was your purpose in conveying to Sergeant
12 Pfarr that Lieutenant Smith was okay with you coming in
13 late?
14 A. Again, it was that that was the last time that
15 I saw him and if something had changed, if something was
16 different, if an issue had arose, that that was an
17 opportunity. I just saw him yesterday. Nothing's
18 changed, nothing's different from the way things had
19 been going on for months and months on the shift. I saw
20 him yesterday, yeah, I saw him yesterday, and he's okay
21 with it because I thought he was okay with it from the
22 months and months before this.
23 Q. Okay. And up until this point, you're saying
24 months and months, how long had you been working this
25 CAT shift overtime?
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1 A. The program started early in the year of 2013
2 and I had been working under Lieutenant Smith, if you
3 will, once he managed the program come April, May,
4 sometime.
5 So at this time, October, it had been close to
6 six months, probably five months that he had been
7 managing that program where I was underneath him.
8 Q. Okay. And then you were placed on
9 administrative leave in December?
10 A. Correct.
11 Q. And in that time period between October and
12 December, you continued to work CAT shift overtime?
13 A. Correct.
14 Q. And, approximately, how many more overtime
15 hours were you scheduled by Lieutenant Smith during that
16 time period?
17 A. I think between October 19th and December 12th,
18 I think I worked somewhere in the neighborhood of 160
19 hours of overtime for CAT.
20 MS. CASTILLO: Can we take, like, a five-minute
21 break?
22 THE HEARING OFFICER: Yeah. It's 11: 30.
23 (Recess.)
24 THE HEARING OFFICER: Back on the record and
25 we're continuing with the direct of the appellant. Go
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1 ahead.
2 BY MS. CASTILLO:
3 Q. Okay. Looking at Department's Exhibit 10, your
4 second -- well, your first and your second text message,
5 what's the reason that you put information other than
6 yes and sorry and that you were on your way in?
7 What's the reason that you put additional
8 information in those text messages to Sergeant Pfarr?
9 A. At that point, I knew it was Sergeant Pfarr
10 that was the supervisor there and I was just trying to
11 give any piece of information based on what my past
12 experience had been and knowledge about Sergeant Pfarr
13 and, at that point, I wanted to try and give him what
14 information that I had, and, again, while driving,
15 distracted, I wasn't looking over every piece of this
16 message before I sent it, it wasn't proofread, but I
17 wanted to give him a sediment of what was going on.
18 Q. Okay. You said with your past experience and
19 knowledge of Sergeant Pfarr. What did you mean by that?
20 A. Well, with the information that I had from
21 Sergeant Amoroso, I was guarded with what I wanted to
22 say to him, around him, with him, interact with him for
23 fear of what he was going to do with that.
24 Q. Did you feel like you had to justify being
25 late?
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1 A. Well, that was the sorry. I was sorry that I
2 was running behind, that I didn't notify him and,
3 however, here's the reasons why.
4 Q. In terms of the information about the
5 information you had about working it out with Lieutenant
6 Smith, what was the purpose of putting that information
7 in the text to Pfarr?
8 A. That that was my understanding with how the
9 program had been going and that it was my understanding
10 that -- from Lieutenant Smith, that things that arose in
11 unforeseen circumstances, that 15 minutes, 20 minutes,
12 even a half-hour would be -- not be an issue, not be a
13 problem adjusting those hours.
14 Q. We've heard testimony in this hearing about
15 blanket permission. Do you know what I'm talking about?
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. Did you ever think you had blanket permission
18 to adjust your CAT schedule as you saw fit?
19 A. No, I did not.
20 Q. Were you adjusting your CAT schedule on the
21 19th?
22 A. That was my intention with that shift, was to
23 adjust it.
24 Q. And how so?
25 A. Was that the time that I arrived there, that
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1 would be adjusted on the backside of the shift and
2 stay -- if it was 20 minutes, then I would stay the 20
3 minutes. If it was a half-hour, stay a half-hour, and
4 that was what had happened in the past and it wasn't a
5 problem.
6 Q. Was that something that you had planned to do
7 in advance?
8 A. No.
9 Q. When you walked into the office when you
10 arrived to work, approximately, what time was it?
11 A. I think, by the time I got to the office, it
12 was probably close to 11: 30.
13 Q. Did you immediately go to the sergeant's office
14 or did you go and change for your shift?
15 A. When I first arrived, I went immediately to the
16 locker room, got changed to my uniform and went straight
17 to the sergeant's office.
18 Q. Did you see Detective Stahnke?
19 A. Not at this time.
20 Q. When you got to the office and met with
21 Sergeant Pfarr, what was his demeanor like?
22 A. He was already upset.
23 Q. Did that surprise you?
24 A. I wasn't really surprised that he was upset
25 because I felt like -- I felt like he was upset because
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1 I didn't call him and I didn't notify him that I was
2 running behind.
3 Q. Did that get clarified as to if that was why he
4 was upset?
5 A. No.
6 Q. So what happened next?
7 A. After the conversation, the meeting that he and
8 I had there in the office the first time, he told me to
9 go back out to the shift and so I went and found
10 Detective Stahnke and we got in our car and went out and
11 began our shift.
12 Q. Okay. At some point later, did you have
13 another conversation with Sergeant Pfarr?
14 A. Yes.
15 Q. And, approximately, when was that?
16 A. After 12: 00 sometime, probably 12: 15, 12: 20.
17 Q. And how did that -- how did it occur that you
18 had that conversation?
19 A. On the radio dispatch, contacted me and told me
20 to come to the station and meet with Sergeant Pfarr.
21 Q. Did you know why you were being summoned to the
22 office?
23 A. No.
24 Q. Did you suspect that it had to be -- had to do
25 with being late?
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1 A. That's what I suspected.
2 Q. And what happened when you got to Sergeant
3 Pfarr's office?
4 A. I walked into the office, again, said what's
5 up, he told me to close the door, I closed the door, he
6 told me that I don't want you to say a single thing, he
7 said that he was pissed, Pfarr, he said that he was
8 pissed, being Lieutenant Smith, and told me that I lied.
9 And then, at that point, I said okay, and then
10 I said, at that point, well, if you get Smith on the
11 phone right now, we can clear this up, let's all talk
12 and we can straighten this out, and he very emphatically
13 responded that we're not going to do that, we're not
14 getting anybody on the phone. I said okay, and then I
15 said I don't have anything else. So he said, don't
16 talk. So I said, are we done? He said, yes, we're
17 done. So I left.
18 Q. When you said okay, were you admitting to
19 lying?
20 A. No.
21 Q. What were you saying okay to?
22 A. I was saying okay to what he was saying. I
23 said okay, not in approval, not disapproval, just an
24 acknowledgment of what he had just said.
25 Q. Meaning when he said I don't want you to
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1 respond to this?
2 A. Yes.
3 Q. Did he ever mention to you during that
4 conversation or the first conversation any of the text
5 message that we had discussed in Department's or City's
6 Exhibit 10?
7 A. No.
8 Q. So were you ever, that day, ever able to
9 explain what you had meant in this text conversation?
10 A. No.
11 Q. Okay. When was the first time you were asked
12 about this text message conversation?
13 A. During my IA interview.
14 Q. And that was when?
15 A. December 12.
16 Q. Some two months later?
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. Did you save this text message conversation?
19 A. No.
20 Q. And you weren't put on administrative leave
21 that day, correct?
22 A. Correct.
23 Q. And you continued to work CAT, right?
24 A. Correct.
25 Q. And your regular assignment, right?
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1 A. Yes.
2 Q. Despite being accused of dishonesty, right?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. When you asked Sergeant Pfarr to get Lieutenant
5 Smith on the phone so that you could all have a joint
6 conversation to clarify and he refused to do so, why
7 didn't you just leave and call Lieutenant Smith,
8 yourself?
9 A. I didn't have his phone number. I don't have
10 his personal phone number, I don't have his cell phone
11 number. There would have been no way to call him.
12 Q. Was he working at the station that day?
13 A. No.
14 Q. When Sergeant Pfarr had indicated to you that
15 he had already spoken to Lieutenant Smith, what were
16 your thoughts about that -- well, did you have any
17 thoughts about that conversation if he had already
18 believed that you were lying?
19 A. I had questions about all of it. I had
20 questions whether or not he actually called, I had
21 questions as to what -- if he did call him, what did he
22 tell him. That's why I wanted him to get on the phone
23 so we could all talk about it so there would be no
24 ambiguity, there would be no confusion, we could all
25 talk, everybody would be in front of everyone else, so
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1 to speak, and we could clear it up right then and there
2 and be done with it.
3 Q. Okay. At any point, did you ever tell Sergeant
4 Pfarr that you had obtained permission from Lieutenant
5 Smith to be late for your shift on the 19th while you
6 were in the locker room with Lieutenant Smith?
7 A. No, I did not.
8 Q. When you saw Lieutenant Smith in the locker
9 room on the 18th, the day before, did you know that you
10 were going to be late for the CAT shift the very next
11 day?
12 A. No, I did not.
13 Q. Did you have any reason on the 8th -- on the
14 18th to obtain permission to be late for the 19th, other
15 than for the reason that you actually were late?
16 Like, were you -- was there any other reason
17 that you were going to be late, but that didn't work out
18 or...
19 A. I knew nothing on the 18th about it, needing to
20 be or having to be or was going to be late on the 19th.
21 Q. Did you have any further conversations with
22 Sergeant Pfarr on the 19th about this issue?
23 A. No.
24 Q. You worked the rest of your overtime shift?
25 A. Yes.
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1 Q. Did you then see Lieutenant Smith shortly in
2 person thereafter?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. And when was that?
5 A. That was the Monday following the 19th.
6 Q. So the 21st?
7 A. Yes.
8 Q. And how is it that you saw Lieutenant Smith?
9 A. I was not working that day. I came into the
10 department, knowing that that was probably going to be
11 his first day back to work, with the intent to talk to
12 him about what happened on the 19th because I was denied
13 the opportunity to talk to him on the phone that day.
14 Q. Did you specifically come to the department on
15 your day off to speak to Lieutenant Smith?
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. What happened when you came to speak to
18 Lieutenant Smith?
19 A. When I first arrived, he was on a telephone
20 call. So I waited in the hallway for probably close to
21 15 minutes. I waited for him to finish his call. When
22 he completed that phone call, I stuck my head in the
23 doorway, asked him if he had a few minutes to talk, he
24 said sure. So I stepped in the doorway. I believe I
25 even sat down in the chair that's in his office. I
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1 asked him if he minded if we closed the door to talk.
2 He said, yes, that's fine. So I closed the door and I
3 told him that I wanted to talk to him about what
4 happened on Saturday, the 19th, and he said, well, I
5 don't have a problem talking to you, however, you need
6 to understand that whatever you say is not privileged by
7 our communication, and I said that's fine, I want you to
8 understand what happened and what was going on because I
9 wasn't given the opportunity to talk.
10 Q. Did you explain what you meant -- did you
11 explain what that meant when you said I was not given
12 the opportunity to talk to you?
13 A. No, I didn't go any further.
14 Q. Did he ask you what that meant?
15 A. No.
16 Q. What happened next?
17 A. I began to tell him about the events of the
18 morning, where I was, where I was coming, I started
19 telling him about the text message communication and how
20 it was a misunderstanding between Sergeant Pfarr and
21 that's when he cut me off and told me that, Kevin, you
22 know that I didn't give you permission to come in late,
23 and it was very clear at that moment that whatever I was
24 going to say at that point was not going to be received
25 in a way -- it was very apparent that whatever Sergeant
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1 Pfarr had told him on Saturday, that Lieutenant Smith
2 was already off to the races and Sergeant Pfarr was
3 already off to the races with whatever that conversation
4 was about characterized with.
5 So I shut down at that point with what I was
6 going to say and, pretty much, at that point, just was
7 agreeable to the remainder of the conversation and we
8 ended it and left.
9 Q. Okay. Did you ever tell him that you told
10 Sergeant Pfarr that he had given you permission to come
11 in late?
12 A. I never told Lieutenant Smith that.
13 Q. Did you ever tell him, Sergeant -- sorry --
14 Lieutenant Smith that you had spoken to him, meaning
15 Smith, in the locker room and had a conversation about
16 coming in late the day before?
17 A. No, I did not.
18 Q. Once Lieutenant Smith said to you, you know,
19 you did not have permission from me to come in late, was
20 it clear to you that there was going to be an IA or
21 internal affairs investigation starting?
22 A. Well, at that point, he had already told me and
23 he even patted a pad of paper on the corner of his desk,
24 referencing that Sergeant Pfarr had written a memo, and
25 that was my whole point of being there, to get in front
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1 of what appeared to be, at this point, a speeding train
2 of something that was a complete misunderstanding.
3 Q. Had you ever been in an internal affairs
4 investigation before?
5 A. No.
6 Q. Did you have any reason to believe that
7 Lieutenant Smith, at this point, wouldn't have had a
8 conversation with you to clear up this misunderstanding?
9 A. I don't understand.
10 Q. Well, did you believe that he would not have
11 been amenable to having a conversation in listening to
12 your side of the story at this point?
13 A. At that point, I was trying to be a couple of
14 adults handling a situation and I thought that I would
15 have been received a little more neutrally.
16 Q. Did you ever go over the content of your text
17 message with Lieutenant Smith in your office?
18 A. No, I didn't.
19 Q. Have you ever gone over the content of your
20 text message with Lieutenant Smith?
21 A. No, I haven't.
22 Q. So you continued after this -- well, how long
23 did this conversation last in Lieutenant Smith's office?
24 A. It was brief. Maybe 10 or 15 minutes.
25 Q. And then you left?
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1 A. Yes.
2 Q. When you left, what did you -- how did you
3 feel?
4 A. Uh, I felt a little defeated that I wasn't, at
5 any point in this time, given the opportunity to explain
6 or talk about without there being a little bit of a bias
7 toward what I was trying to say.
8 Q. Do you feel like anyone heard what you were
9 saying?
10 A. No.
11 Q. Did you, after that, continue working as usual
12 through November 2013?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. And during this time period, were you
15 approached by coworkers about Sergeant Pfarr looking for
16 you?
17 A. Uh, there was one instance of another CAT shift
18 where it was before 11: 00 and the partner I had on that
19 shift was Officer Inglehart, and when I arrived within
20 the normal donning period that we're given for, he told
21 me that Pfarr was already in the locker room looking for
22 me, and Inglehart said to me, why is he in here looking
23 for you before the shift even starts? And I just told
24 him at that point, I said, I don't know, man, and we
25 just finished getting dressed and went out and worked.
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1 Q. How did that make you feel?
2 A. I felt like now I'm being watched everywhere I
3 go. Even before I was supposed to be at a shift, this
4 guy's looking for me, trying to figure out where I'm at.
5 Q. Did you continue in your collateral special
6 assignment?
7 A. Yes.
8 Q. Did you continue doing the DRMO inventorying
9 assignment?
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. Did you continue on the S.W.A.T. team?
12 A. Yes.
13 Q. And did you continue with your motorcycle
14 training?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. Same thing with the accident reconstruction
17 team?
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. Knowing that you have been accused of making
20 false statements specific to this investigation in terms
21 of what is relayed in this text message and then what
22 was said, according to the conversations between
23 yourself and Sergeant Pfarr relayed between you and
24 Lieutenant Smith, how does it make you feel that you've
25 been, basically, accused of being dishonest?
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1 A. It pisses me off. I've done a lot for this
2 department, I've done a lot for the people of this
3 department, tried to make it a better place, and what
4 did I get for it? I tried to promote. Promoting is the
5 worst thing I could have done at this department because
6 all it did was put a target on my back, and it was very
7 clear, going forward, all these things were going on
8 behind my back that I had no idea that were happening,
9 that I didn't find out until after I get given Skelly
10 packets, that Sergeant Pfarr is trying to block me from
11 getting detective spots.
12 For what? What did I do? What did I do to
13 him? All I've done is work hard for them. Equipment,
14 training, worked hard. 600 something hours of overtime
15 in a year. For what? So I can't be heard over one
16 thing? It's disappointing. It shouldn't be like this.
17 Q. Can you give an example of a situation when you
18 had an instance where integrity and honesty was very
19 important to you during this specific time period?
20 A. It gets back to that DRMO program and we prided
21 ourselves on making sure that there was not any
22 impropriety. We kept track and we kept detailed records
23 of where stuff was, who had it, where it went, when it
24 came in, when it went out so that any time something was
25 called upon, we would know where it's at.
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1 And the thing that made me the most sad about
2 this whole situation is when we got those boots because
3 after those boots showed up and everybody decided to
4 take all of our stuff without asking, without permission
5 and all that stuff, and I'm getting accused over some
6 text messages, and these guys are all taking boots
7 without permission, without asking, how I'm responsible
8 for that stuff.
9 And then after that, to find out that
10 Lieutenant Bledsoe was down there taking boots the same
11 day he served me with the IA for the texting incident,
12 he's down there taking boots to the point that other
13 officers are taking photos of the security camera in the
14 department to make a wanted poster of him because he
15 took boots, and he never once told me that he had
16 anything.
17 I have all kinds of other people that
18 communicated back with me that, hey, I have this, this,
19 this, and this. Another lieutenant piggy-backed on my
20 e-mail that said that stuff all needs to be put back.
21 Not one time did Lieutenant Bledsoe come and say I have
22 your boots. The same day he served me, hey, by the way,
23 I got some boots, oh, and here's your IA service.
24 Q. For an honesty issue?
25 A. For an honesty issue.
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1 Q. After you were placed on administrative leave,
2 were you approached by officers in the department?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. Who?
5 A. Two people, Officer Inglehart and Officer
6 Berrios.
7 Q. And what did they say to you?
8 A. Both of them had been contacted by Sergeant
9 Pfarr and Sergeant Pfarr was trying to open dialogue and
10 communicate to them and with them about me and my
11 administrative leave.
12 Q. What did Brent Inglehart tell you?
13 A. Inglehart told me the night I was put on admin
14 leave after I went home, Sergeant Pfarr went to him
15 downtown during farmers and --
16 Q. Farmers market?
17 A. Farmers market, and asked if he heard what was
18 going on, and Brent said, yeah, I was there when it
19 happened, and he said, okay, well, the department's
20 going to be looking at attitudes to make sure you don't
21 get involved in his thing because you know you still
22 have a pending IA, as well.
23 Q. Was his related to yours, in any way?
24 A. No.
25 Q. What did Officer Berrios tell you?
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1 A. Officer Berrios told me that two days after I
2 was put on admin leave, that he was asked to coffee by
3 Sergeant Pfarr wherein Sergeant Pfarr asked him if he
4 knew what was going on with me and my admin leave, and
5 George, at that point, didn't know.
6 So he asked back what was going on and Chad
7 told him that I was on admin leave. George asked,
8 what's it going to take? When's he coming back to work?
9 And Sergeant Pfarr said that he didn't know and thought
10 more people had to be interviewed, or something, and
11 maybe -- it's not as bad as what's happened to some
12 other people around here.
13 And then Officer Berrios told me of another
14 incident when there was a conversation in the hallway
15 about a missing rifle wherein he was charged with
16 looking for this rifle. He told me that Sergeant
17 Villanti was present, Officer Jeff Koznek was present
18 and Sergeant Pfarr was present, and in the course of
19 collaborating as to where this rifle might be, Sergeant
20 Pfarr made a comment that maybe we should go home and
21 check my safe to look for this missing rifle. Officer
22 Berrios came to my defense in that respect and Sergeant
23 Pfarr said, hey, well, you never know with him.
24 So that situation continued to where Lieutenant
25 Smith, days later at a defensive tactics training, went
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1 to Jeff Koznek to find out where this missing rifle was.
2 So Lieutenant Smith, he -- Jeff Koznek told Lieutenant
3 Smith that the rifle had been located and Lieutenant
4 Smith said, oh, okay, well, I'm just checking in on it.
5 It's interesting that that traversed there.
6 Q. Who were you served -- at some point, you were
7 given a notice of intent, discipline in this matter?
8 A. Yes.
9 Q. Were they -- but the department combined the
10 two internal affairs investigations?
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. And you were notified of termination?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. I don't have my front page.
15 MR. PALMER: It's 5.
16 BY MS. CASTILLO:
17 Q. Department's Exhibit 5, you received this in
18 September of 2014?
19 A. Correct.
20 Q. Did you attend a Skelly hearing?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. Who was your attorney at the time?
23 A. Uh, at the time of my Skelly, it was Nicole
24 Quintana-Winter.
25 Q. And who was present for your Skelly hearing?
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1 A. Chief Gesell was present and City Attorney
2 Dietrick.
3 Q. Anyone else?
4 A. No.
5 Q. Okay. And can you tell us what happened at the
6 Skelly hearing?
7 A. To my recollection, we had an opportunity to
8 respond and Nicole gave some of the reasoning behind my
9 exceptional work record and some various other things as
10 reasonings for a different discipline, and that
11 information was taken by the chief, and, at one point,
12 he made a comment that he had a moral obligation to make
13 sure that I'll never be a cop ever again.
14 THE HEARING OFFICER: He said this during the
15 Skelly?
16 THE WITNESS: Yes, sir.
17 Ms. Dietrick made reference that there had to
18 be some remedial discipline as a result of my
19 termination.
20 BY MS. CASTILLO:
21 Q. I'm sorry. Remedial discipline to who?
22 A. She didn't make reference to any individuals.
23 She --
24 Q. Not you, other people?
25 A. She inferred it was to other people, but there
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1 was no reference to specifics who.
2 Q. Prior to going to the Skelly hearing, were you
3 aware that your attorney sent a letter to the department
4 that was previously marked and entered in this hearing?
5 A. Yes, I was.
6 Q. I don't remember what number it was, but it was
7 authored by Ms. Quintana-Winter?
8 A. I believe so.
9 Q. And that was directed to the chief, correct?
10 A. I believe it was.
11 Q. Okay. What else occurred at the Skelly
12 hearing? What else was said, if you recall?
13 A. Uh, that was the recollection, that there was a
14 point in time when I had left the room and so that my
15 attorney and the chief and the city attorney could
16 speak. I waited outside, and a short time later, my
17 attorney came out and we left.
18 Q. And what was her demeanor like when she came
19 out?
20 A. She was upset at the lack of interest to
21 collaborate with respect to the chief and she felt that
22 it was already a predetermined, preconceived notion what
23 was going to take place at that Skelly and that nothing
24 we would have said there would have made a difference.
25 Q. Did you speak at your Skelly hearing?
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1 A. No, I didn't.
2 Q. When the chief said that he had a moral
3 obligation to make sure that you were never a cop again,
4 how did that make you feel?
5 A. I was upset because the other person he made
6 that same comment about was Cory Pierce.
7 Q. And who was Cory Pierce, again?
8 A. Cory Pierce was the officer that was arrested
9 for federal charges for doing armed robberies under the
10 code of authority while he was a detective in county
11 narcotics.
12 Q. Where did he make that statement about Cory
13 Pierce?
14 A. During his press conference.
15 Q. Did the chief make any statements about you in
16 the press?
17 A. Yes, he did.
18 Q. What did he say about you?
19 A. He authored an e-mail to a leadership school
20 for law enforcement officers wherein I was listed as one
21 of his accomplishments having terminated me for
22 untrustworthiness, despite external influence for a
23 lesser discipline.
24 Q. So your termination was an accomplishment?
25 A. According to Chief Gesell.
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1 MS. CASTILLO: And I may be done. Can I have a
2 five-minute break just so I can double-check?
3 THE HEARING OFFICER: Sure.
4 MS. CASTILLO: Okay.
5 (Recess.)
6 THE HEARING OFFICER: So we're marking, as
7 Appellant's Exhibit KK, a transcript. It looks like
8 it's an interview of Officer Waddell dated December
9 12th, 2013. It's about 35 pages.
10 MS. CASTILLO: So KK will be the certified
11 version of the CAT transcript, and then Appellant's LL
12 is the 1/27/2014 certifying transcript of the Bentley.
13 THE HEARING OFFICER: So this is also as to
14 Officer Waddell, but this is the one January 27th, 2014,
15 and it relates to the Bentley event.
16 MS. CASTILLO: Correct.
17 MR. PALMER: Thank you.
18 MS. CASTILLO: Do we have another copy? I just
19 need one more for the witness book.
20 THE HEARING OFFICER: Okay. So off the record.
21 (Pause in proceedings.)
22 MS. CASTILLO: And then I would ask that those
23 be admitted, moved and admitted.
24 THE HEARING OFFICER: Any objection to KK or
25 LL?
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1 MR. PALMER: No.
2 THE HEARING OFFICER: Without objection,
3 they're both admitted.
4 MS. CASTILLO: And I will defer to you.
5
6 CROSS-EXAMINATION
7 BY MR. PALMER:
8 Q. Good afternoon, Mr. Waddell.
9 A. Good afternoon.
10 Q. This leadership thing that you say the chief --
11 the former chief mentioned your case. What, exactly,
12 did he say?
13 A. He said it was a list of his accomplishments,
14 as outlined at the top, and it was a lengthy list and
15 one of those smashed in between was terminated an
16 officer for untrustworthiness, despite external
17 influence for a lesser discipline.
18 Q. Slightly correct. Does this sound familiar,
19 terminated an officer for untruthfulness, despite
20 external encouragement to levy a lesser level of
21 discipline?
22 A. Sounds accurate.
23 Q. Okay. Your name's not mentioned in there, is
24 it?
25 A. No.
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1 Q. How do you know that's related to you?
2 A. Not one single other person was terminated from
3 this department in the time period in which he's
4 referencing.
5 Q. But that's the only reason you're making the
6 connection between the two items?
7 A. There's an extremely high possibility that is
8 me.
9 Q. Do you know what this external encouragement to
10 levy a lesser level of discipline was about?
11 A. At this point, the only thing I can draw to it
12 is that Captain Storton tried to give a fair discipline,
13 is his own testimony. The only other place I could
14 surmise would be from human resources.
15 Q. Well, that, actually, is not his testimony, but
16 I'll let that speak for itself.
17 You talked about the Skelly conference. Do you
18 remember that?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. Give me a sense, from start to finish, how long
21 that entire meeting lasted.
22 A. I was in the room for, maybe, 10, 15 minutes
23 and there was probably an equal 10 or 15 minutes where I
24 was outside the room.
25 Q. Do you remember what time of day it started?
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1 A. Mid-morning, early afternoon. It was daytime,
2 business hours.
3 Q. How much time was actually spent in the
4 specific Skelly response made by you and/or your lawyer?
5 A. Uh --
6 THE HEARING OFFICER: We're talking about the
7 written response?
8 MR. PALMER: No.
9 THE HEARING OFFICER: Just what was said --
10 MR. PALMER: Let me see if I can clarify it.
11 THE HEARING OFFICER: All right.
12 BY MR. PALMER:
13 Q. Okay. Let's go back and come back.
14 You're given a notice of intent to discipline,
15 I assume, at some point in time?
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. And you're given some supporting material?
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. And you secure the services of a law firm to
20 help you out?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. All right. And in those notices, is there a
23 date on which to all come down for your Skelly
24 conference?
25 A. I believe there was a time period to seek
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1 that --
2 Q. Okay.
3 A. -- and that was what was made through the
4 attorney's office.
5 Q. And it was said on some particular date of
6 which you were told?
7 A. I believe there was some scheduling conflicts
8 initially, but, ultimately, a day was picked.
9 Q. There always is. So a particular date was set?
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. You were present?
12 A. Yes.
13 Q. Ms. Winter was present?
14 A. Yes.
15 Q. Chief was present?
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. Christine Dietrick was present?
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. Anybody else?
20 A. No.
21 Q. Did you all just go right into the Skelly
22 conference response on your behalf or was there some
23 other sort of discussions going on?
24 A. There was a brief initial discussion related to
25 the letter that was sent by my attorney's office related
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1 to --
2 Q. Gotcha.
3 A. -- statute of limitations and various other
4 things, there was a brief response from Ms. Dietrick
5 about it and, at that point in time, we proceeded
6 forward with any responses from us on the Skelly.
7 Q. Okay. So at that point in time, you proceeded
8 forward with some sort of formalized verbal response
9 made by you and/or your lawyer in the form of a Skelly
10 meeting?
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. Okay. And was it the same four folks present
13 for that?
14 A. Yes.
15 Q. All right. Was there a recording?
16 A. To my knowledge, there was.
17 Q. Were you recording?
18 A. I was not.
19 Q. Was Ms. Winter recording?
20 A. Yes.
21 Q. Was the chief recording?
22 A. I don't recall.
23 Q. Do you know if Ms. Dietrick was recording?
24 A. I believe she was.
25 Q. Okay. And how long -- well, let me ask you
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1 this.
2 I assume Ms. Winter said some things on your
3 behalf?
4 A. Yes, she did.
5 Q. Did you?
6 A. No, I did not.
7 Q. Okay. How long did that portion of the
8 meeting, just the formalized verbal Skelly response, how
9 long did that last?
10 A. I would have to talk about things I'm not
11 knowledgeable of as to how far a Skelly would truly
12 extend to me being present and things like that. So
13 you're asking me --
14 THE HEARING OFFICER: I think he's just asking
15 how much time did you spend.
16 THE WITNESS: In that portion there, it was
17 probably the 10 or 15 minutes.
18 BY MR. PALMER:
19 Q. And, I assume, at some point, there was an
20 ending, that's all we have to say?
21 A. At that point, there was a request to speak
22 with the attorney directly with me outside the room and
23 that's the point I left the room.
24 Q. Okay. And how long were you outside the room?
25 A. Maybe 15 minutes.
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1 Q. Okay. And Ms. Winter was still in the room, I
2 assume?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. And so was the chief and Ms. Dietrick?
5 A. Yes.
6 Q. And then you testified that Ms. Winter came out
7 of the room?
8 A. Correct.
9 Q. And she was upset?
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. How did you -- what was she doing for you to
12 formulate the conclusion she was upset?
13 A. I was in the lobby of the police department
14 waiting during this time, and when she emerged from the
15 locked door into the police department, she didn't slow
16 down when she passed me in the lobby. She walked out
17 the door and to the sidewalk and I had to get up and
18 follow her.
19 Q. Okay.
20 A. So -- and she proceeded to relay to me what
21 happened while she was in there by herself.
22 Q. What did she say?
23 A. She told me that there was zero interest in any
24 kind of communication or discussion or openness or -- no
25 meeting in the middle, was my understanding, the
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1 communication.
2 Q. Lack of interest in collaborate -- lack of
3 interest to collaborate, is what I wrote down. Is that
4 what you said?
5 A. That's probably what I said.
6 Q. Meaning what?
7 MS. CASTILLO: I don't want to get into too
8 much of attorney-client privilege discussions here. I
9 mean, if he's talking about an impression that he's
10 getting, that's one thing.
11 THE HEARING OFFICER: We're talking about what
12 the appellant said, those words?
13 MR. PALMER: Yes.
14 THE HEARING OFFICER: Lack of interest to
15 collaborate, is that something that came out of his
16 mouth? I don't remember.
17 MR. PALMER: That's what I got from his
18 testimony.
19 THE HEARING OFFICER: Okay. So if it's what
20 he's saying, then you can answer that. If it's what
21 you're discussing what the attorney, then I don't want
22 to hear about it.
23 THE WITNESS: That was what I took from what
24 she was telling me. So that's our conversation, my
25 attorney and I, and the sense that I got from that level
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1 of conversation was what she told me, that was what I
2 took away from it, was that there was a lack of interest
3 in collaboration or meeting in the middle of anything.
4 BY MR. PALMER:
5 Q. Okay. From your point of view, not your
6 attorney's point of view, from your point of view, what
7 does meeting in the middle mean?
8 A. It was not a fair Skelly hearing.
9 Q. Why not?
10 A. He did not -- he was not even hardly paying
11 attention when we were discussing the things that we
12 were mentioning as far as considering factors for not
13 leveling this discipline.
14 MR. PALMER: Off the record?
15 THE HEARING OFFICER: Let's go off the record
16 for a second.
17 (Discussion off the record.)
18 BY MR. PALMER:
19 Q. Was it clear to you that by approximately 11: 30
20 a.m. on October 19th, that the text exchange you had
21 with Sergeant Pfarr was going to be pretty important?
22 A. No.
23 Q. Was it clear to you by approximately 12: 30 p.m.
24 on October 19th that the text exchange you had with
25 Sergeant Pfarr was going to be pretty important?
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1 A. No.
2 Q. Was it clear to you by the time you spoke to
3 Lieutenant Smith on October 21st, 2013, that the text
4 exchange you had with Sergeant Pfarr was going to be
5 pretty important?
6 A. No.
7 Q. When did it become -- when did you become
8 knowledgeable that it was going to be pretty important?
9 A. When I had text messages slid across the desk
10 during the IA interview.
11 Q. Okay. And that was on December 12th?
12 A. Yes.
13 Q. Was it in the afternoon or morning? Do you
14 remember?
15 A. It was 3:30 in the afternoon, or whenever it
16 was.
17 Q. Had you, by then, deleted the text exchange?
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. Now, I could have heard this wrong, but I
20 thought you testified about that interview.
21 The December 12th, 2013, interview was the
22 first time you had the text messages put in front of
23 you, right?
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. And that you testified that you weren't put on
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1 administrative leave that day?
2 A. The day the messages were sent, I was not -- I
3 was put on admin leave the same day of my interview.
4 Q. Maybe that's where I got it confused. I want
5 to make sure.
6 You remember being placed on administrative
7 leave with pay later on in the evening on December 12th?
8 A. Correct.
9 Q. Okay. Would you have expected to be placed on
10 administrative leave with pay on October 19th?
11 A. If someone thought I lied.
12 Q. Well, who would that be on October 19th?
13 A. It was made very clear to me that Sergeant
14 Pfarr thought I lied and Lieutenant Smith thought I
15 lied.
16 Q. Okay. Do they have the authority to place you
17 on administrative leave?
18 MS. CASTILLO: Objection. Calls for
19 speculation, lack of foundation.
20 MR. PALMER: He can say he doesn't know if he
21 doesn't know.
22 THE HEARING OFFICER: Answer if you know.
23 THE WITNESS: My understanding of that is that
24 they have the mechanism to make that happen.
25 ///
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1 BY MR. PALMER:
2 Q. Okay. And don't you think that it might be
3 wise for, at least, the management of the police
4 department to give you a chance to explain yourself
5 before they place you on administrative leave?
6 A. Certainly.
7 Q. You wouldn't expect them to take Sergeant
8 Pfarr's word for it and Lieutenant Smith's word for it
9 on October 19th or October 21st and just place you on
10 leave then, would you?
11 A. I would expect not.
12 Q. As quickly as I can, I just want to go through
13 the Bentley incident. I'm going to gloss over some of
14 the details because I think we kind of have an idea of
15 the event, in general.
16 You and Sergeant Amoroso have known each other
17 for how long?
18 A. Since I became employed here at the San Luis
19 Obispo P.D.
20 Q. And you're neighbors?
21 A. We live in a common housing development. We
22 would -- I would estimate it as being more than ten
23 blocks away from each other. We don't live on the same
24 street. It's in close proximity.
25 Q. We have to start and stop these hearings all
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1 the time, but I recall Sergeant Amoroso saying about
2 three blocks away. Is that about right?
3 A. A block is a point of reference that can be
4 different to any person. We live close enough to each
5 other that if I needed something, I could go to his
6 house.
7 Q. And you consider him a close friend?
8 A. I would consider him a friend.
9 Q. You and Sergeant Amoroso were on duty the day
10 the Bentley accident occurred?
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. And you now have a recollection that you drove
13 to the scene together?
14 A. Correct.
15 Q. You put Sergeant Amoroso in the driver's seat
16 of the truck and you in the passenger's seat?
17 A. He always drives.
18 Q. Okay. Fair enough.
19 You both were unsure about that in your
20 interviews, right?
21 A. It had been a year at that point and I was kind
22 of cold in that interview to try and use my best
23 recollection at that time. Since then, I've had an
24 incredible amount of time to think about this and
25 recollect that we were together.
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1 Q. And your recollection now is that you had this
2 conversation with Sergeant Amoroso about perhaps messing
3 around with Sergeant Pfarr while in the FST truck
4 driving out there?
5 A. We were -- I remember now, having thought about
6 it a great deal, is that we were at the northwest corner
7 of the intersection parked on the side of the road and I
8 was in the passenger's seat, he was in the driver's
9 seat, and we were looking across the street at the
10 collision, having that conversation.
11 Q. Oh, okay. So you two were at the scene?
12 A. We were at the scene when it happened.
13 Q. You just hadn't gotten out of the truck?
14 A. We didn't get out of the truck, at all, the
15 first time.
16 Q. You were able to make assessments about it from
17 the truck?
18 A. I was.
19 Q. How long did you spend at the scene, then, with
20 Sergeant Amoroso?
21 A. We were there maybe 15 minutes.
22 Q. Did you talk to Sergeant Pfarr, at all?
23 A. I believe, at one point, he came over to the
24 truck and talked to Sergeant Amoroso at the window.
25 Q. Okay.
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1 A. It was about logistics of call-outs and things
2 like that.
3 Q. Okay. I seem to remember some evidence about
4 whether or not it's going to be a fatal, whether or not
5 we need to call out the team. Was that the kind of
6 conversation?
7 A. Yes.
8 Q. And it settled itself, somehow?
9 A. With some input from myself. They asked me
10 what do you think, and I said might as well call it.
11 Better to do it than not do it.
12 Q. Had the two persons in the Bentley been taken
13 to the hospital by then?
14 A. Yes. They were already well gone. All the
15 fire department, ambulance and everybody was already
16 gone.
17 Q. Tow truck driver not there yet?
18 A. No.
19 Q. So you and Sergeant Amoroso spend about 10, 15
20 minutes in the truck, have this conversation with
21 Sergeant Pfarr, then you know the call-out team is going
22 to be called out, so you go back to get some equipment?
23 A. Yes.
24 Q. Sergeant Amoroso go with you, he drives?
25 A. He drives.
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1 Q. Did he leave you then and go home?
2 A. I believe he may have come back out, but at
3 that point in time, he and I were separated. So if he
4 showed up, it was very brief.
5 Q. I assume you got back out to the scene through
6 some other vehicle?
7 A. Yes. I got another vehicle, loaded up all the
8 equipment and went back out.
9 Q. And you did not have any discussion of any
10 possible pranking or joking that you, alone, or with
11 Sergeant Amoroso could do to Sergeant Pfarr that night?
12 MS. CASTILLO: Objection. Misstates testimony.
13 THE HEARING OFFICER: Well, he's asking the
14 question. If you understand the question, you can
15 answer.
16 THE WITNESS: I can answer it. We didn't have
17 any conversation specific about pranks. The
18 conversation was general to the, as Amoroso put it, fuck
19 with Pfarr, and it was to the point of having him freak
20 out, was the context of the conversation.
21 BY MR. PALMER:
22 Q. And you didn't have any ill intentions towards
23 Sergeant Pfarr in doing that, right?
24 A. Certainly not.
25 Q. You just thought it would be funny, right?
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1 A. Yes.
2 Q. At some point, Sergeant Amoroso leaves the
3 scene. I understand you're fuzzy about when and under
4 what circumstances, but he wasn't there when the prank
5 went down?
6 A. No.
7 Q. Do you know now, looking back on it with your
8 clear memory, when he left, what was going on at the
9 scene when he left, or whether he even came back after
10 dropping you off?
11 A. I believe he did come back and it was brief,
12 but it was more of a capacity to make sure that Sergeant
13 Pfarr didn't need anything else.
14 At that point, I was very immersed in setting
15 up the total station. There's a significant process to
16 that. So I wasn't terribly focused on who was there at
17 that point in time.
18 Q. So you go through the measuring with some other
19 officers?
20 A. Yes.
21 Q. Cudworth, Kevany?
22 A. Yes.
23 Q. And you finish the retrieval of the raw
24 material you need, right?
25 A. Correct.
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1 Q. Okay. And you put the total station device
2 away?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. Officers start clearing the scene?
5 A. Other patrol officers. There was a few there,
6 one, maybe two, that were facilitating the traffic
7 control at that point. I think they probably just
8 stayed. The car wasn't flipped over yet. So I think
9 people were very interested in seeing the car.
10 Q. So the car is still on its roof?
11 A. Correct.
12 Q. I assume there were some other officers there
13 doing other duties rather than just you doing the
14 measurements with the device?
15 A. Um, not sure what you mean as far as what
16 other --
17 Q. Let me break it down.
18 Were there other San Luis Obispo police
19 officers, perhaps, taking photographs?
20 A. Not at that time.
21 Q. When did that happen?
22 A. My understanding, from the training I provided
23 patrol, was that they are to take as many and as often
24 photos they can the second they get there.
25 Q. Okay.
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1 A. And we use that as a mechanism to try and
2 capture how things are because there's certain functions
3 of emergency services that the fire department
4 eradicates a lot of our evidence. So it's helpful to
5 have those photos in the raw form, as you will say, that
6 we can put things back together, put things back where
7 they once were when the crash happened because there is
8 significant portions of evidence-gathering. So the
9 photos that we talk of that I know of were taken before
10 we went there.
11 Q. Before you and Sergeant Amoroso even arrived,
12 or maybe concurrent therewith?
13 A. Certainly.
14 Q. Pretty early on in the event?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. Okay. As many photos as you can take?
17 A. That's what I tell people.
18 Q. So then while you were there with Sergeant
19 Amoroso, sitting in the FST truck just assessing and
20 later on talking to Sergeant Pfarr, did you see anybody
21 walking around, taking photographs, like evidence
22 photographs?
23 A. I didn't make any note of it. At that point, I
24 didn't see anyone taking photos.
25 Q. You leave, you get the total station device,
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1 come back from the station and you returned, somehow.
2 Would you have expected that all the
3 photographs, based upon your briefing, training, would
4 have been done by the time you returned?
5 A. Those initial capture, the initial response,
6 they would have been completed at that point.
7 Q. Okay. And then you did your total station
8 thing. About how long did that take?
9 A. That took a couple hours, but it varies. In
10 this instance, it took a couple hours.
11 Q. Okay. And was it after you were done getting
12 the raw material measurements, using the total station
13 device that this plan to prank Sergeant Pfarr kind of
14 formalized in your head?
15 A. At that time, yes.
16 Q. Okay. And who was around then?
17 A. Uh, Kevany and Cudworth were still there, Pfarr
18 had just arrived back, I believe, I believe Benson was
19 there somewhere nearby, I think Jennifer Hyman was there
20 somewhere, I think Officer Rodriguez was somewhere close
21 by, and that would be the extent of it.
22 Q. Tow truck driver?
23 A. I don't believe he was there, initially. The
24 mechanism that we activate to get the tow truck there --
25 because he would sit there for a long time. So once the
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1 moment we know we're ready for a tow truck driver, we
2 request them.
3 So, at that point in time, there was some
4 downtime before the tow truck driver arrives. So he was
5 not quite there yet.
6 Q. Okay. And this decision to prank Sergeant
7 Pfarr to do what you ultimately do with regard to the
8 Bentley, that we're going to get to in a minute, that
9 was, solely, your idea?
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. Okay. And the timing of your execution of it
12 was toward the end of the event, is how I understand.
13 A. Correct.
14 Q. It was after the tow truck driver had arrived?
15 A. Those two had no connection, but that's the
16 timing of how it happened.
17 Q. I understand they had no connection, but the
18 tow truck driver arrived before you started to execute
19 your plan?
20 A. Yes.
21 Q. And where was he in relation to the Bentley?
22 A. When the prank occurred?
23 Q. Yes.
24 A. Uh, the vehicle was off the roadway and the tow
25 truck had just flipped it over. So the tow truck was
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1 directly in front of the car as he was going to be
2 hooking it up. So the tow truck driver was about at
3 the -- what would be the passenger door of the tow
4 truck. So that would be that distance, 15 feet,
5 thereabouts.
6 Q. And Sergeant Pfarr was present?
7 A. Yes.
8 Q. In fact, he was your audience?
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. Okay. And you had pretty good knowledge that
11 Officer Benson was not only present, but he was watching
12 you?
13 A. That's what I recall.
14 Q. He was there, present, and seeing what you were
15 doing?
16 A. I recall him being there. I wasn't taking a
17 log of who was watching or not watching, other than
18 Sergeant Pfarr.
19 Q. But I could point out two places in your
20 interview process where you said you had an awareness
21 that Officer Benson was watching.
22 A. That was my speculation at that time.
23 Q. You're not going to quibble with that, right?
24 A. That's fine.
25 Q. You came up with the thought that you would
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1 take a Bentley item off of the car, correct?
2 A. Correct.
3 Q. One of the emblems?
4 A. That was a significant thing of a Bentley, is
5 they have a unique design. So that was inherently
6 something that I thought would be obvious.
7 Q. And one of your factors in deciding to do that
8 was because the car was totaled?
9 A. The function of the prank was easier because
10 the car was a disaster, was totaled.
11 Q. The point of the fact that -- the factor that
12 the car was totaled is who is going to care at this
13 point, right?
14 A. Um, certainly, people would care, but that was
15 also the considering factor for --
16 THE HEARING OFFICER: You know, I'm going to
17 interrupt you. You're really not answering his yes and
18 no questions with yes and no answers. He's entitled to
19 get those answers. When we get the transcript, it's not
20 going to help me. You've got, you know, excellent
21 counsel. She will take you on explanation if that's
22 necessary.
23 THE WITNESS: Can you repeat the question?
24 THE HEARING OFFICER: Otherwise, you're also
25 going to multiply the proceedings here. So let's just
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1 stick with that.
2 BY MR. PALMER:
3 Q. The question was the point of the factor, being
4 that the car was totaled, was who would care if you took
5 a car part off of it?
6 A. That was not my considering factor.
7 Q. You focused on the Bentley emblems because --
8 one of the reasons you focused on those was because they
9 were cool-looking?
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. And they were unique?
12 A. Yes.
13 Q. Initially, you focused on the Bentley emblem on
14 the rear trunk lid. Do you recall that?
15 A. I don't recall the rear trunk lid.
16 Q. Okay. Exhibit 22, City's Exhibit 22.
17 A. Uh-huh.
18 Q. Page 16.
19 A. Okay.
20 Q. Top paragraph -- and if you need to go back to
21 Page 15 to get a context, you start out by saying, "I
22 think there was an initial look at it," and then on the
23 top of Page 16, you are talking about getting the
24 screwdriver and impossible to come off, didn't want to
25 damage the car.
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1 I'd ask you, what are you referring to?
2 A. I'm referring, at that time, to the hood
3 emblem.
4 Q. Okay. So there's a B on the hood?
5 A. Yes.
6 Q. Can you describe the physical characteristic of
7 the B emblem on the hood?
8 A. It's a circular center where the B would be and
9 extending out from there that are wings and they're
10 chrome, black background, chrome B.
11 Q. Okay. Was your initial focus that emblem?
12 A. Yes.
13 Q. Okay. Before or after you got the screwdriver?
14 A. Before.
15 Q. Okay. Did you try to make it look like you
16 were trying to manipulate that emblem on the hood with
17 your fingers before you got the screwdriver?
18 A. No.
19 Q. Then you went over to the tow truck driver and
20 asked for a screwdriver?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. And he gave you one?
23 A. Yes.
24 Q. Did you tell him why you needed it?
25 A. No.
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1 Q. Did you have any discussion with him, at all?
2 A. I did not.
3 Q. And you went back over to the hood ornament, is
4 what I understand?
5 A. Yes.
6 Q. And did you actually try to pry the hood
7 ornament off?
8 A. I did not.
9 Q. Did you make it look like you were trying to
10 pry the hood ornament off?
11 A. No.
12 Q. Did you place the blade of the screwdriver
13 anywhere near the hood ornament?
14 A. I did not.
15 Q. Middle of Page 16 --
16 A. Uh-huh.
17 Q. -- a comment attributed to you. It's right
18 next to the middle hole for the three ring binder. "I
19 recall having a screwdriver." Do you see that there?
20 A. Yes, I do.
21 Q. "I recall having the screwdriver against the
22 emblem."
23 So, to me, that means you had the blade of the
24 screwdriver near the emblem. It's not what you recall?
25 A. I recall having the screwdriver in my hand and
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1 I recall being close to the emblem, trying to look
2 behind the emblem to see how it was affixed to the hood.
3 So having it close to, having it against, I was doing
4 the best to recall at that time. There's a lot of
5 response in that statement, too.
6 Q. And that's the -- is that the first Bentley
7 emblem that you focused on, the one on the hood? You
8 went to that one before you went to the wheel hub cover?
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. Okay. I'm just trying to get the chronology
11 here.
12 You never did go to the rear trunk lid emblem
13 and do anything with it?
14 A. I don't recall going to the trunk lid emblem.
15 Q. The problem with the witness saying that they
16 don't recall, it means it might have occurred and they
17 just don't recall. You understand that, right?
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. You can't give us any more information about
20 that?
21 A. Are you asking me to expand why I don't recall?
22 Q. If you don't recall, you don't recall. I'm
23 just saying.
24 A. I don't believe that happened, and the reason
25 why I don't believe that happened is because the
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1 location we were standing was on the passenger's side of
2 the Bentley closer to the front wheel where the tow
3 truck was. That was where the people -- the officer --
4 that's where we were assembled. So we were never back
5 by the back of the car. That's why I said I don't
6 recall I went back there because I don't believe that
7 ever happened.
8 Q. Correct me if I'm wrong, but all of this -- all
9 of these efforts that we're getting into now, the hood
10 ornament, the screwdriver and, eventually, the wheel hub
11 covers, all of that occurred after the Bentley was rided
12 onto its wheels?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. Okay. Then my question is, what was your
15 initial reason for asking for the screwdriver?
16 Was it to go to the hood ornament or to get a
17 wheel hub cover off?
18 A. The initial request for the screwdriver was
19 that if the hood emblem was going to be able to come off
20 without any damage, that was an option.
21 Q. Okay. So the original reason for the
22 screwdriver was to, potentially, get the hood ornament
23 off?
24 A. Correct.
25 Q. Okay. No other reason?
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1 A. Correct.
2 Q. Page 5 of your interview, still on Exhibit 22.
3 A. Yes, sir.
4 Q. Bottom two-thirds of the page, there's a
5 reference to Proll and why did you ask him for a
6 screwdriver. Do you see that?
7 A. Yes.
8 Q. And your response says, "to take the hubcap
9 off."
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. There's nothing about the hood ornament.
12 A. Correct.
13 Q. Okay. So which is it? Why did you get the
14 screwdriver? Hood ornament or hub cap?
15 A. The original reason was for the emblem and it
16 ultimately ended up being for the hubcap.
17 Q. Is this still the period of time where Officer
18 Benson, you're aware, is watching you?
19 A. He is present.
20 Q. All right. So at some point, without
21 causing -- as I understand the story, without causing
22 any damage to the hood ornament, the Bentley emblem on
23 the hood, you then move to the wheel hubcap?
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. Okay. And the reason for that, like you've
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1 described in your direct, is it's easier to move and
2 it's, in fact, intended to be removed?
3 A. Correct.
4 Q. There's a little slot there. You knew that
5 before?
6 A. Correct.
7 Q. And you used the screwdriver to remove one of
8 the wheel hub covers?
9 A. Correct.
10 Q. So I envision you kneeling down?
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. And Benson and Pfarr are somewhere in close
13 proximity, watching you?
14 A. Yes.
15 Q. So is the tow truck driver?
16 MS. CASTILLO: Objection. Calls for
17 speculation.
18 MR. PALMER: If you know.
19 THE HEARING OFFICER: If you know.
20 THE WITNESS: I don't know.
21 BY MR. PALMER:
22 Q. And which wheel did you pop off the wheel hub
23 cover from?
24 A. That was the front passenger wheel cover.
25 Q. Front passenger's side wheel cover?
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1 A. Correct.
2 Q. Do you remember saying something different in
3 your interview?
4 A. I remember trying to remember which one it was
5 in my interview and not recalling which direction the
6 car was facing, and those are the things I remember from
7 my interview.
8 Q. Page 7, Exhibit 22.
9 A. Uh-huh.
10 Q. If -- third entry attributed to Proll, if you
11 read from there, the next four entries, tell me when
12 you're done.
13 A. Okay.
14 Q. So in the interview, you said it was from the
15 rear passenger's side.
16 A. I did say that then.
17 Q. Okay. Do you know which one it is now?
18 A. I recall being at the front passenger, based on
19 my recollection of the direction the car was facing. I
20 think, at this time, even in the interview, I'm not
21 completely clear which direction the car was facing.
22 Q. All right. If we go to what you said in your
23 interview, it sounds like you, at least, told Lieutenant
24 Proll you took the wheel hub cover off the rear
25 passenger's side wheel. Are you with me?
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1 A. That's what I represented there.
2 Q. Would that be equivalent to the right rear
3 wheel?
4 A. Right rear wheel. Correct.
5 Q. Okay. Go to Exhibit 11, please, 11-B. Do you
6 recognize what 11-B is? We had some discussion of it in
7 this hearing already.
8 A. Yes.
9 Q. Is that the Bentley in the accident we've been
10 discussing?
11 A. Yes, it is.
12 Q. Is it on its roof?
13 A. Appears to be.
14 Q. So this would be a photograph taken earlier on
15 in the event?
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. Before the car was rided?
18 A. It was before it was rided, yes.
19 Q. And before you took the wheel hub cover off?
20 A. Correct.
21 Q. According to your interview, on the right rear
22 wheel, right?
23 A. Correct.
24 Q. That would be the wheel depicted on the --
25 well, it's hard to read, but it says right -- if you
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1 hold the exhibit landscape form horizontally, the wheel
2 would be in the upper right corner, right?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. The Bentley emblem, the wheel hub cover, looks
5 like a black circular object with a B in it?
6 A. Correct.
7 Q. Is that what you removed?
8 A. Yes.
9 Q. It's still intact here, isn't it?
10 A. It is.
11 Q. Because the car hasn't been rided yet?
12 A. Correct.
13 Q. All right. And you said -- strike that.
14 You said you retrieved another wheel hub cover
15 from the scene.
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. Where did you get that?
18 A. It was laying on the ground somewhere close by
19 the car.
20 Q. At what point?
21 A. After the car had been rided.
22 Q. Okay. And where did that wheel hub cover come
23 from?
24 A. It was somewhere close by the car when the car
25 came down on its wheels.
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1 Q. Which wheel?
2 A. I don't know which one it was from.
3 Q. Did you remember when you were interviewed by
4 Lieutenant Proll?
5 A. I'd have to be refreshed. I don't know.
6 Q. Page 7.
7 A. Back to 22?
8 Q. Yes, sir.
9 A. And you said 7, correct?
10 Q. I did.
11 A. Okay. I've got it.
12 Q. Let me find the records for you. One, two,
13 three, four, five, sixth entry attributed to you, "I --
14 I thought it was the rear passenger's side." Just
15 continue to read that.
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. Okay. So where did the one that you found on
18 the ground, according to your statement to Lieutenant
19 Proll, come from?
20 MS. CASTILLO: Objection. Asked and answered.
21 THE HEARING OFFICER: If you know, you may
22 answer.
23 THE WITNESS: It came from one of the wheels.
24 I don't know which one.
25 ///
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1 BY MR. PALMER:
2 Q. You told Lieutenant Proll it was the front
3 passenger wheel. At least, that was what your
4 recollection was then, right?
5 A. I was trying to remember at that time as to
6 what it could have been, and in reading it now, it looks
7 like I'm speculating as to what it could have been.
8 Q. Go back to 11-B.
9 A. Uh-huh. You should have me toggle.
10 Q. Would you agree with me that the front
11 passenger wheel would be, otherwise, known as the right
12 front?
13 A. I'm sorry. One more time.
14 Q. Would you agree with me that the front
15 passenger wheel be would, otherwise, known as the right
16 front?
17 A. In B, yes, right front.
18 Q. So it would be the other wheel depicted in
19 11-B?
20 A. It would be the one in landscape -- this way,
21 landscape would be the one on the left.
22 Q. And, at least, to the extent we can discern in
23 this picture, the B emblem still appears to be intact on
24 the wheel?
25 A. Yes.
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1 Q. So it did not come off in the accident?
2 A. It did not come off in the accident.
3 Q. So, presumably, it came off when flipping the
4 car onto its wheels?
5 A. It could have.
6 Q. Okay. So now you have in your possession two
7 Bentley wheel hub covers, correct?
8 A. When? I'm sorry.
9 Q. After -- I'll fix it.
10 After you pried the one off the right rear
11 wheel hub cover and you picked up the one from the front
12 wheel, which was on the ground near the scene somewhere,
13 at some point, you had possession of two Bentley wheel
14 hub covers?
15 A. They were stacked on top of each other, yes.
16 Q. What do you mean?
17 A. They were here next to me on the ground, the
18 one that was already off, and when this wheel cover came
19 off, I set it on top of the other wheel cover.
20 Q. Okay. Still on the ground?
21 A. Still on the ground.
22 Q. Okay. Did you ever have physical possession of
23 both of them together?
24 A. When I picked them up to put them back in the
25 car, in the Bentley.
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1 Q. And at this time when you were taking the wheel
2 hub cover off the rear and putting it near the front
3 wheel hub cover, the tow truck driver was somewhere in
4 the vicinity?
5 A. Yes.
6 Q. As was Officer Benson and Sergeant Pfarr?
7 A. Yes.
8 Q. And you put both these wheel hub covers into an
9 evidence bag?
10 A. I did not put any wheel covers in a bag.
11 Q. And you're certain that Sergeant Pfarr saw what
12 you were doing?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. Because you wanted him to?
15 A. I wanted him to see me take the wheel cover
16 off.
17 Q. You wanted to get a reaction from him?
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. And, indeed, he did react?
20 A. Yes.
21 Q. He looked at you and gave you an odd look?
22 A. I don't recall his facial expression.
23 Q. Said I can't be here, or something like that?
24 A. To that effect.
25 Q. And then he walked away?
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1 A. Yes.
2 Q. And you took his comment to mean that Sergeant
3 Pfarr wasn't very happy with you?
4 A. Yes.
5 Q. You gave the screwdriver back to the tow truck
6 driver?
7 A. Yes.
8 Q. Did you speak to him?
9 A. Briefly.
10 Q. Why did you -- let's go through exactly what
11 you said to the tow truck driver again upon giving him
12 the screwdriver back.
13 A. I gave him the screwdriver back, I said to him
14 something to the effect of I don't know what you saw,
15 but we were just joking around, and that was it.
16 Q. Did you tell him that you did not need those
17 hub covers?
18 A. Something to that effect.
19 Q. Did you tell him you didn't want him to
20 think -- did not want him to think that you were
21 stealing car parts?
22 A. I don't believe I said that.
23 Q. Okay. Page 18, back to Exhibit 22.
24 A. Uh-huh.
25 Q. Bottom of Page 18 begins with a comment from
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1 you. It goes on to Page 19. Stop right there.
2 A. Yes.
3 Q. I'm just quoting from you, "I didn't want him
4 to think that there was something to do with me taking
5 things."
6 A. Yes.
7 Q. Okay. So you had some kind of discussion with
8 him or some kind of comment to him that you didn't want
9 him to think you were stealing car parts?
10 A. Uh, that may misrepresent what I'm saying here,
11 but I said to him, as I'm reading here, I was just
12 messing around, and I said this because I didn't want
13 him to think that there was anything going on like that.
14 Q. You would agree with me, though, that an
15 outside person watching what you were doing, without
16 knowing the interaction between you and Sergeant Pfarr,
17 without knowing the prank and the joke, might get the
18 idea you're stealing car parts?
19 MS. CASTILLO: Objection. Calls for
20 speculation.
21 THE HEARING OFFICER: Overruled. You can
22 answer.
23 THE WITNESS: One more time, the question.
24 MR. PALMER: It's going to be a different
25 question.
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1 THE HEARING OFFICER: No. Let's just read it
2 back.
3 (Record read by the court reporter.)
4 THE WITNESS: I don't know how he could have
5 got the opinion I was stealing a car part.
6 BY MR. PALMER:
7 Q. Well, then why make that comment to him?
8 A. The comment about messing around?
9 Q. No. The comment that you didn't want him to
10 think that you were doing something with me taking
11 things. I'm only using your words.
12 A. Certainly. That was my reasoning at the time,
13 not that I thought that he did. It was my reasoning in
14 saying it.
15 Q. You, at some point, put away -- the way I
16 envision this, correct me if I'm wrong, you pick up both
17 wheel hub covers from the ground?
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. And put them in the car?
20 A. Yes.
21 Q. And, by this time, the car was on the flatbed,
22 or not?
23 A. I don't even remember if it was a flatbed,
24 honestly. It could have been the wrecker kind that
25 picks up the wheels.
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1 Q. You don't know at what stage the tow truck
2 driver had placed the car at this point?
3 A. No.
4 Q. But you put the wheel hub covers back inside
5 the Bentley?
6 A. Correct.
7 Q. And did you make a point of making sure that
8 the tow truck driver saw you do that?
9 A. I don't recall making a point of doing that.
10 Q. Okay. Page 20 of Exhibit 22, very top comment
11 attributed to you. Actually, if you read the top three
12 comments, you get the whole statement.
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. "I can only get my stuff from you."
15 From that, I interpret that you made a big
16 point of making sure that the tow truck driver saw you
17 put the car parts back.
18 A. That's what I'm indicating there, yes.
19 Q. And it was about that time that Sergeant Pfarr
20 called you on the phone?
21 A. No.
22 Q. No?
23 A. It was close in proximity, but not at that
24 exact moment.
25 Q. I'm not going to pull a video out.
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1 A. Sure. I didn't know what you were asking.
2 Sorry.
3 Q. The next salient event was Sergeant Pfarr calls
4 you on the phone?
5 A. Correct.
6 Q. And you answer it?
7 A. Yes.
8 Q. And among the things he told you was put car
9 parts back?
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. Which you already did?
12 A. Correct.
13 Q. Told him that you put him in a bad spot?
14 A. He told me that.
15 Q. That's what I --
16 A. I'm sorry. Yes.
17 Q. If I misspoke, that's what I meant.
18 A. Yes. He told me that.
19 Q. You told him you were just joking?
20 A. Correct.
21 Q. He told you to come see him?
22 A. Correct.
23 Q. And you did go see him?
24 A. I did.
25 Q. And among the things Sergeant Pfarr said to you
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1 when you were with him is that what you had there was a
2 bad idea?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. You reiterated that you put him in a bad spot?
5 A. Correct.
6 Q. He talked about all the different things that
7 other people could have perceived by your actions,
8 right?
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. And, in fact, junior officers, as well?
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. He was very upset with you?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. You did not bring up, during your discussion
15 with Sergeant Pfarr, that you did this because he was a
16 new sergeant?
17 A. I don't believe it was discussed in that
18 terminology.
19 Q. You did not bring up with Sergeant Pfarr that
20 you engaged in this event based, in part, on
21 conversation you had with Sergeant Amoroso?
22 A. I did not.
23 Q. And you did not call it a practical joke?
24 A. Practical joke is not, necessarily, one of my
25 terminologies.
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1 Q. Okay. So the answer to the question --
2 A. No.
3 Q. -- would be no? Okay.
4 And you realized at the time you had this
5 discussion with Sergeant Pfarr that you did come up with
6 a bad idea?
7 A. Yes.
8 Q. You acknowledged it was a bad idea?
9 A. I did.
10 Q. And you did that in your interview, right?
11 A. I did.
12 Q. Almost a year later?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. And you acknowledge that you made a poor
15 decision that night?
16 A. I did.
17 Q. You still do?
18 A. It was a bad decision.
19 Q. And in your interview, you told Lieutenant
20 Proll that you took full responsibility for your
21 actions?
22 A. I'd like to think I take responsibility for my
23 actions.
24 Q. Do you still take responsibility for your
25 actions now?
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1 A. Yeah.
2 Q. Okay. So you finished the conversation with
3 Sergeant Pfarr that night.
4 When's the next time, in your memory, that this
5 event comes up in conversation with anybody?
6 A. There was a brief attempt at a conversation
7 with Sergeant Amoroso the next night. To my
8 recollection of it, it was me trying to open up the
9 dialogue of, hey, you remember when we talked about
10 that, and we did not get to finish the conversation
11 because, as I recall, it was during work and we got sent
12 to a call. There was something that came up to
13 interrupt that conversation that we never got to
14 complete.
15 Q. I want to peel that onion a little bit.
16 So this was the night after the Bentley event
17 occurred?
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. Okay. You were working? You were on duty?
20 A. I believe so.
21 Q. Sergeant Amoroso was on duty, to the best of
22 your belief?
23 A. To the best of my recollection.
24 Q. Okay. What shift were you working?
25 A. Still the night shift.
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1 Q. Same shift as the night before?
2 A. That I recall.
3 Q. Okay. Do you recall what time of day you
4 brought up the topic?
5 A. It would have been during our regular shift.
6 Q. What did you say to Sergeant Amoroso? How did
7 you open the topic?
8 A. It was, hey, do you remember we had that
9 conversation about messing with Pfarr, and he said,
10 yeah, I go, well, it didn't really go over well, and
11 that is the totality of our conversation.
12 Q. We've been together a few days here, right?
13 A. A couple.
14 Q. You've -- you were here when Sergeant Amoroso
15 testified, right?
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. Do you remember me asking him exactly that
18 question?
19 A. I believe I do remember.
20 Q. And he doesn't remember your conversation, at
21 all. Do you remember that?
22 A. I remember his response to that.
23 Q. Did he explain that?
24 A. Sergeant Amoroso doesn't remember a lot of
25 things that happened that year.
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1 Q. So maybe we shouldn't put too much talk into
2 what he says? I'll let that be rhetorical.
3 THE HEARING OFFICER: Let's move on.
4 BY MR. PALMER:
5 Q. I'll run through the CAT shift again with you.
6 Okay?
7 A. Okay.
8 Q. I envisioned you, at some point prior to
9 October 19th, 2013, placing your name on a line next to
10 that date on the sign-up sheet.
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. Okay. And, eventually, it was assigned to you?
13 A. Correct.
14 Q. And Adam Stahnke?
15 A. I don't know if he signed up for it. I don't
16 know how in which he came into his assignment.
17 Q. But, at some point, I would assume he put his
18 name on the line, too, and you two ended up with the
19 shift?
20 A. Correct.
21 Q. And, at some point, you knew that?
22 A. Yes.
23 Q. Before October 19th?
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. And before October 18th?
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1 A. When I actually was aware of it was before
2 October 19th.
3 Q. And CAT shifts run from 11: 00 a.m. to 4:00
4 p.m.; do they not?
5 A. That is the identified time for them to be.
6 Q. And I can go through here and show you all of
7 Lieutenant Smith's e-mails and all of Sergeant Pfarr's
8 e-mails about all those shifts and every single one of
9 them has a prefatory paragraph. Do you remember that?
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. I'm not going to go through them all, but in
12 the prefatory paragraph, it says the CAT shifts run from
13 11: 00 to 4:00 p.m., correct?
14 A. Correct.
15 Q. Do you have a recollection of how far in
16 advance you did know that you were assigned to the
17 October 19th shift?
18 A. I don't know. It was whenever that e-mail was
19 sent, assigning the shifts.
20 Q. Okay. Appellant's Exhibit H, is that the one
21 you're talking about?
22 A. Yes.
23 Q. Does that have October 19th on it?
24 A. Yes, it does.
25 Q. And this came from you?
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1 A. I provided that e-mail.
2 Q. Do we know when it was sent?
3 A. Not from that e-mail.
4 Q. Why not?
5 A. That e-mail was printed from my home after I
6 was placed on admin leaving.
7 Q. How did that occur?
8 A. That time, I still had access to my work e-mail
9 and I wanted to be able to have anything that could
10 support who and what worked that day.
11 Q. Would you agree with me that, likely, this
12 e-mail was sent prior to September 14th?
13 A. That is fair to say.
14 Q. And we know that, from the context of it, given
15 the fact that the first assigned shift was September
16 14th?
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. And if you opened it and reviewed it in a
19 timely manner, you probably knew on or about -- on or
20 before September 14th that you were assigned the October
21 19th shift. Are you with me?
22 A. Yes.
23 Q. Okay. Who did this come from?
24 A. I would have to guess that it came from
25 Lieutenant Smith, being that it's CCd from Sergeant
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1 Pfarr, and my recollection, Sergeant Pfarr sent one of
2 those like e-mails. So I would guess Lieutenant Smith.
3 Q. Is this an illustration of Lieutenant Smith's
4 poor communication skills with regard to shifting?
5 A. No.
6 Q. All right. And you have received permission on
7 a number of occasions from Lieutenant Smith to vary your
8 start time and end time, correct?
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. And one of them -- one of those occasions was
11 back in June of 2013? Showing you Exhibit J.
12 A. That would be an example of an instance where I
13 needed to have some flexibility.
14 Q. What's the change you're requesting?
15 A. I am hoping to be excused from the first hour
16 of CAT tomorrow from 11: 00 to 12: 00. I have an
17 obligation at 11: 00.
18 Q. And that's an e-mail that you sent to
19 Lieutenant Smith?
20 A. Correct.
21 Q. Did he respond?
22 A. To that one, I don't believe he did.
23 Q. Where did you get this?
24 A. Another e-mail that I printed from my work
25 e-mail at my house.
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1 Q. When did you print it?
2 A. Uh, it would have been after December 12 and
3 before January 15.
4 Q. How do you know that?
5 A. Because January 15th was the date that the
6 department locked up my department e-mail.
7 Q. Prior to that, did you ever download all your
8 e-mails?
9 MS. CASTILLO: Objection. Relevance.
10 THE HEARING OFFICER: Overruled. You can
11 answer.
12 THE WITNESS: Elaborate on download. I'm
13 sorry.
14 BY MR. PALMER:
15 Q. Take all your e-mails and put them on an
16 external hard drive for your safekeeping.
17 A. I've never done that.
18 Q. You've never done that?
19 A. No.
20 Q. Okay. Do you know if Lieutenant Smith approved
21 this change?
22 A. I don't recall.
23 Q. Well, did you come in at -- when did you arrive
24 for the shift?
25 A. I would think I would have arrived at 12: 00 or
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1 I sought some other way to find out if there was
2 approval.
3 Q. If you arrived at 12: 00, do you think you had
4 specific approval to do that?
5 A. I'm sorry. One more time.
6 Q. If you arrived at noon, did you have approval
7 to do that?
8 A. Uh, I felt like the practice of the program, it
9 would have been approved.
10 Q. Do you remember Lieutenant Smith being asked
11 about this, Exhibit J?
12 A. I remember us discussing it.
13 Q. What did Lieutenant Smith say? Do you
14 remember?
15 A. I'd have to be refreshed on what he said,
16 specifically.
17 Q. He tried to be very accommodating with such
18 requests?
19 A. Definitely.
20 Q. As long as they were done with specific
21 approval in advance of the day?
22 A. I think that may have been specific to
23 something. I'm not clear of your question.
24 Q. Do you remember him saying that?
25 A. I'd have to be refreshed.
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1 Q. And was there an occasion when you were offered
2 to take over the CAT shift from another officer?
3 A. Several occasions.
4 Q. Was one of those occasions illustrated here by
5 Appellant's K?
6 A. Yes.
7 Q. And from whom -- who had the shift first?
8 A. Officer Dickel.
9 Q. And what did he request of you?
10 A. He requested if I wanted to work a CAT shift on
11 a particular day, if so, e-mail the lieutenant or
12 whoever needs to know.
13 Q. Okay. If so, e-mail lieutenant or whomever
14 needs to know.
15 You didn't write that, that was Jason Dickel
16 who wrote that, right?
17 A. Correct.
18 Q. And what did you do with that information?
19 A. I forwarded his e-mail to Lieutenant Smith.
20 Q. And said what?
21 A. It said I am not sure if I would be the next in
22 line or if there was some more senior person ahead of me
23 to take the shift, but I will take it if eligible.
24 Q. Why did you forward the e-mail to Lieutenant
25 Smith?
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1 A. There was several weeks before this event
2 occurred. It wasn't appeared to be anything immediate.
3 So, at that point, there was opportunity to see
4 if that was going to be an approved activity.
5 Q. But you testified here today that you could do
6 that on your own.
7 MS. CASTILLO: Objection. Misstates testimony.
8 THE HEARING OFFICER: I don't know what he
9 testified to. I'm going to read the transcript
10 carefully, but that was the implication. So you can
11 testify about whether that's a fair inference or not.
12 THE WITNESS: I don't think that's a fair
13 inference.
14 BY MR. PALMER:
15 Q. You forwarded this to Lieutenant Smith because
16 you knew you needed his approval before this shift
17 change officer swap could occur, right?
18 A. In this instance, there may have been more
19 senior people, and with the length of time between the
20 request and the date of working, if there was a more
21 senior person there, then it could be theirs.
22 Q. And Lieutenant Smith responded?
23 A. Yes.
24 Q. What did he say?
25 A. He said sorry for the delay, I put you down for
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1 the shift.
2 Q. So he approved the swap?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. Is this an illustration of Lieutenant Smith's
5 poor scheduling?
6 A. Yes.
7 Q. Oh, okay.
8 MS. CASTILLO: What exhibit was that? I'm
9 sorry. What letter? I'm sorry. What letter?
10 MR. PALMER: K.
11 MS. CASTILLO: K. Thank you.
12 THE HEARING OFFICER: Appellant's K. All
13 right.
14 BY MR. PALMER:
15 Q. Was there another occasion when you asked
16 permission to leave the shift early?
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. And is that illustrated by Appellant's L?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. And the shift ends at what time, normally?
21 A. Uh, it normally ends at 4:00.
22 Q. And you wanted to leave when?
23 A. At 3:00.
24 Q. And you knew you need Lieutenant Smith's
25 specific approval in order to do that?
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1 A. Again, this was an instance -- yes.
2 Q. That's why you sent the e-mail to Lieutenant
3 Smith?
4 A. In that instance.
5 Q. Because you couldn't do this on your own with
6 without approval?
7 A. In this instance.
8 Q. And he approved it?
9 A. In this instance.
10 Q. And he sent you an e-mail back about that?
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. Is this an illustration of Lieutenant Smith's
13 poor communication skills?
14 A. No.
15 Q. These three exhibits, J, K and L, these weren't
16 the only times that you reached out to Lieutenant Smith
17 for some sort of approval to change an aspect of your
18 CAT shift, correct?
19 A. Correct.
20 Q. There were others?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. These are the only three e-mails you could
23 find, or what?
24 A. Those are the only three that I had at that
25 time in my e-mail.
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1 Q. Now, by October 18th of 2013, you had no such
2 specific verbal or written permission from Lieutenant
3 Smith to come in late on October 19th?
4 A. No.
5 Q. And the reason you didn't send one of these
6 kind of e-mails that we see in J, K and L because you
7 didn't know on October 18th you were going to be late?
8 A. Correct.
9 Q. Okay. And -- but you saw Lieutenant Smith in
10 the locker room on October 18th, 2013?
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. What was he doing?
13 A. Doffing his uniform to go home.
14 Q. And what were you doing?
15 A. Donning my uniform to go to work.
16 Q. Were you on your phone?
17 A. I was on my phone.
18 Q. I'm sorry?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. Okay. And you exchanged pleasantries with him?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. You didn't have any conversation with
23 Lieutenant Smith beyond hi?
24 A. Correct.
25 Q. You didn't have any conversation with him about
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1 coming in late the next day?
2 A. I did not.
3 Q. And the reason for that is because you didn't
4 know you would have to come in late until the next day?
5 A. Correct.
6 Q. Okay. I'm curious about one thing. In your
7 direct examination, you focused in on your brief
8 exchange of hi's with Lieutenant Smith in the locker
9 room on October 18th, and maybe I missed it and maybe I
10 misinterpreted it, correct me if I'm wrong, you took the
11 opportunity to say that Lieutenant Smith did not take
12 any opportunity to correct you if he thought your
13 behavior in amending the start time or an end time of a
14 shift was wrong on that occasion. Did I get that right?
15 A. That was an opportunity for him to do that.
16 Q. Why would it possibly be an opportunity for him
17 to do that? All you said was hi.
18 A. That was the first time I had seen him in
19 several weeks.
20 Q. How could you possibly know what he knows?
21 Do you know if Lieutenant Smith knew that you
22 were just changing your shifts on your own on October
23 18th?
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. You knew that?
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1 A. Yes.
2 Q. How did you know that?
3 A. In the meeting I had with him on the 21st.
4 Q. Okay. Run that down for me.
5 A. That's what he told me.
6 Q. What?
7 A. That he and Sergeant Pfarr pulled my time cards
8 and that they had reviewed my time cards and it appeared
9 I had been coming and going as I was pleasing.
10 Q. Okay. And when did they do that?
11 A. I don't know.
12 Q. Do you think they did that on the 19th?
13 A. The inference that was made to me was prior to
14 that.
15 Q. Okay. This is new stuff. So you're going to
16 have to explain it to me. I've never heard this before.
17 A. That was my conversation with Lieutenant Smith
18 on the 21st.
19 Q. What did he say?
20 A. Just that.
21 Q. Run it down for me again, please.
22 A. Part of our conversation, he told me that he
23 and Sergeant Pfarr had pulled my time cards to verify
24 what was going on and all these accusations by Sergeant
25 Pfarr of me being late and that it appeared from the
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1 time cards that I was coming and going as I was
2 pleasing.
3 Q. Did Lieutenant Smith specifically tell you when
4 he pulled those time cards?
5 A. No.
6 Q. Did Lieutenant Smith specifically tell you when
7 he came by this information that you were changing
8 things on your own?
9 A. No.
10 Q. Do you know if Lieutenant Smith, on October
11 18th in the late afternoon hours when you said hi to
12 each other in the locker room, knew you were doing that
13 on that day?
14 A. No.
15 Q. Okay. I'm still confused.
16 Lieutenant Smith says to you on the 21st,
17 right? This is a Monday, right?
18 A. Correct.
19 Q. That they pulled your time cards and you were,
20 apparently, coming and going as you pleased?
21 A. That's what he told me.
22 Q. That's his phrase?
23 A. That's his phrase.
24 Q. How did he say that?
25 A. It appears, to me, that you're coming and going
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1 as you're pleasing.
2 Q. Okay. So the inference I'm getting from the
3 way you're describing his tone was he did not approve of
4 you doing that, right?
5 A. That was what I got from him.
6 Q. Okay. But you're trying to convince us that,
7 at some previous point, he did approve you doing that?
8 A. Of coming in late and getting off early?
9 Q. Yes, sir.
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. Okay. When was that?
12 A. It's evident here in numerous e-mails and
13 numerous other conversations I had with him in passing.
14 Q. Where?
15 A. That he's okay with me coming in late?
16 Q. Where? Where does it say that in appellant's
17 exhibits?
18 A. I --
19 Q. We're going back to J, K and L?
20 A. If you would like to look at L, there's, "I
21 need to leave the shift at 15: 00," and his response is,
22 "That is fine."
23 Q. Okay. Specific approval, correct, in writing?
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. You took that to mean you could do it any time
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1 on your own without specific approval? Is that what I'm
2 trying to get?
3 A. I'm saying I have had numerous other verbal
4 interactions with him where he understood my situation
5 working these shifts and the childcare issues that were
6 in place, and it's not just e-mails, it's also verbal
7 communication between he and I and other supervisors.
8 Q. You were here when Lieutenant Smith testified,
9 right?
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. Several times, correct?
12 A. Yes.
13 Q. He was asked several pointed questions about
14 that particular topic, correct?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. And he denied doing that to you --
17 MS. CASTILLO: Objection --
18 BY MR. PALMER:
19 Q. -- with you, correct?
20 MS. CASTILLO: -- vague as to --
21 BY MR. PALMER:
22 Q. He denied giving you blanket permission of
23 letting you do it on your own?
24 A. I never said blanket permission.
25 THE HEARING OFFICER: Nevertheless, he denied
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1 giving blanket permission. I'm not sure whose term it
2 was, but that was his testimony.
3 THE WITNESS: That was his testimony.
4 BY MR. PALMER:
5 Q. Is he lying?
6 A. That he -- I don't understand your question.
7 Q. Is Lieutenant Smith lying about that?
8 MS. CASTILLO: Blank -- I'm -- I'm -- vague as
9 to "that." Are we talking about --
10 THE HEARING OFFICER: Well, it assumes facts
11 not in evidence. I don't think you can --
12 MS. CASTILLO: Shifted just meant --
13 THE HEARING OFFICER: Let me just clarify this.
14 I don't think it's a fair question to ask the
15 witness if somebody's lying about something that he
16 denied that the witness hasn't agreed is what he asked
17 for, if that's the way to put it, but you could try
18 another way of asking this question.
19 BY MR. PALMER:
20 Q. I'll move on.
21 You didn't have any conversation with
22 Lieutenant Smith on or before October 18th or October
23 19th about coming in late on October 19th?
24 A. I did not.
25 Q. Okay. So the issue with your daughter's dance
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1 class comes up the next morning, correct?
2 A. Correct.
3 Q. And is it my understanding that your first
4 inclination that there was a problem with you possibly
5 getting to work by 11: 00 a.m. came to your realization
6 at about 10: 15 a.m.?
7 A. Yes.
8 Q. Okay. And was it then that you texted
9 Detective Stahnke?
10 A. Thereabouts.
11 Q. Okay. So you weren't driving then?
12 A. Correct.
13 Q. I assume you were sitting down in the chair in
14 the dance class?
15 A. I don't know what I was doing at that exact
16 moment. I would have to elaborate for you on what
17 happened with my daughter's dance class.
18 Q. That's okay.
19 Okay. So I'm just going to go with my
20 assumption that you're sitting in a chair inside the
21 dance school. Okay? 10: 15 rolls around, you realize
22 there's a danger you're not going to make it by 11: 00
23 and you text Detective Stahnke. Am I right so far?
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. And you only texted Detective Stahnke?
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1 A. Yes.
2 Q. If you thought that you could come in
3 without -- at any time without any specific approval and
4 without any sort of notice, there wouldn't be any reason
5 to text Detective Stahnke, would there?
6 A. Compound question, but I didn't think that I'd
7 have to be able to come in at any time I wanted whenever
8 I wanted. That's not what I thought, and when I texted
9 Stahnke, it was to -- I might be late, I was not sure.
10 That's several questions there.
11 Q. Was part of the reason you texted Detective
12 Stahnke was as a courtesy to him?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. Could you have worked with him?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. A courtesy which you did not extend to the
17 watch commander?
18 A. At that time, I was not sure that I was going
19 to be late.
20 Q. How hard would it be to find out who the watch
21 commander is?
22 A. Not difficult.
23 Q. There's a number, I assume, you can call?
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. Everyone knows the watch commander's number?
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1 A. Yes.
2 Q. Did you dial the number?
3 A. I didn't.
4 Q. You had time to dial the number, right?
5 A. There could have been moments to call it.
6 Q. You had time to text Sergeant Pfarr, hey, are
7 you the watch commander today?
8 A. I don't believe I would have done that.
9 Q. But you could have called and found out who the
10 watch commander was?
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. Could have called dispatch, said who's the
13 watch commander?
14 A. Yes.
15 Q. You could have texted Sergeant Pfarr?
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. Shortly after texting Detective Stahnke,
18 correct?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. But you didn't do that?
21 A. Did not.
22 Q. Okay. And was it my understanding correct that
23 the dance class lasted until about 11: 00 a.m.?
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. And, approximately, what time did your wife
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1 arrive to take control of your kids?
2 A. Shortly before 11: 00.
3 Q. Do you know how many minutes?
4 A. Ten.
5 Q. Okay.
6 A. More.
7 Q. I'm envisioning you just sitting there in the
8 chair from 10: 15 to 10: 50, 10: 55, watching your
9 children, right?
10 A. No.
11 Q. Okay. You're engaged in some other business?
12 A. My daughter.
13 Q. Okay. I understand, but you didn't have
14 anything else to do but be at the dance hall between
15 10: 15 and 10: 50, 10: 55, correct?
16 A. I was there, supervising my daughter.
17 Q. I understand that, but you had enough time to
18 text Detective Stahnke, correct?
19 A. In that moment, yes.
20 Q. Okay. So your wife gets there around when?
21 10: 50? 10: 55?
22 A. Yes.
23 Q. And you started heading to work?
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. It was about 11: 11 that the first text comes in
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1 from Sergeant Pfarr?
2 A. Yes.
3 Q. That's the first time you realize Sergeant
4 Pfarr was the watch commander for this CAT shift?
5 A. Yes.
6 Q. And you said you were driving at the time?
7 A. Correct.
8 Q. I mean, I don't want to be overly technical,
9 but could have stopped?
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. Could have stopped and composed yourself?
12 Could have stopped and composed a properly-worded text?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. You knew you were late by that time?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. And go to 10, please.
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. By the time -- I'm just going from your
19 testimony.
20 By the time that you received this text, the
21 opening text from Sergeant Pfarr, which led to this
22 exchange at 11: 11 on October 19th, would I be correct in
23 saying that you already thought, on some level, Sergeant
24 Pfarr didn't like you?
25 A. Yes.
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1 Q. Okay. That he was watching you?
2 A. Yes.
3 Q. That he, perhaps, was coming after you in some
4 way?
5 A. Yes.
6 Q. Okay. Would that have been a real good reason
7 to stop along the side of the road and compose a
8 properly-worded text?
9 A. That would have been a good thing to do.
10 Q. But you didn't do that?
11 A. No.
12 Q. You said, yes, sorry, I had worked out ahead of
13 one with -- and I just wanted to make sure that we're
14 all correctly interpreting that that's LT?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. Okay. Not it?
17 A. That's probably not.
18 Q. That's a little L and lower case L and lower
19 case T?
20 A. Yes.
21 Q. Meaning Lieutenant Smith?
22 A. Yes.
23 Q. And your only change to this, had you stopped
24 and composed yourself and thought about what you wanted
25 to write, correct me if I'm wrong, is that the word,
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1 one, is meant to be others?
2 A. That is the sentiment of the text message, that
3 that word is supposed to be others.
4 Q. I had worked out ahead of time with others with
5 Lieutenant Smith. How does that make any more sense?
6 A. It doesn't.
7 Q. Okay. At this point, October 19th, 2013, at
8 11: 11, were you laboring under the premise that
9 Lieutenant Smith was fine with you coming in within
10 certain parameters at 11: 30 instead of 11: 00? Is that
11 what you were laboring under?
12 A. That's fair to say.
13 Q. Why did you say that?
14 A. In that message?
15 Q. Yes, sir.
16 A. I was trying to dash off a quick message to get
17 a response to him.
18 Q. You said, "I'm on the way in now."
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. Now, at this point, you're already 11 minutes
21 late, correct?
22 A. Correct.
23 Q. And you're going to be more than 11 minutes
24 late because you're still on the road?
25 A. Yes.
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1 Q. And you know that's a violation of the rules?
2 A. I'm aware that's a violation of the rules.
3 Q. And you know that, technically, depending upon
4 how people feel about that, that could lead to some
5 disciplinary action?
6 A. Yeah.
7 Q. And that's what you were trying to get out of
8 by putting this thing over on Lieutenant Smith, correct?
9 A. No.
10 Q. He says, "That made no sense. Stop by when you
11 get here," right?
12 A. Yes.
13 Q. Okay. And then you went into the second text
14 message.
15 Again, you were still driving?
16 A. Yes, sir.
17 Q. You didn't take the time to stop and compose
18 yourself and think about what you wanted to write in
19 this second --
20 THE HEARING OFFICER: You already covered that.
21 We've got that.
22 BY MR. PALMER:
23 Q. Okay. And you said, basically, I had talked to
24 Smith yesterday.
25 Okay. Now, I understand your modification and
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1 punctuation at this point, but do you understand that we
2 can only go by what you write in here?
3 MS. CASTILLO: Objection. Calls for
4 speculation.
5 THE HEARING OFFICER: Overruled. You can
6 answer that question.
7 THE WITNESS: You can read the words or I can
8 tell you what I meant when I typed it.
9 BY MR. PALMER:
10 Q. Would you agree with me the only thing Sergeant
11 Pfarr can rely upon is what you wrote?
12 MS. CASTILLO: Objection --
13 THE WITNESS: Yes.
14 MS. CASTILLO: Objection. Calls for
15 speculation.
16 THE HEARING OFFICER: Overruled. You can
17 answer.
18 MR. PALMER: Did the answer get in?
19 THE COURT REPORTER: Yes.
20 BY MR. PALMER:
21 Q. When you wrote, basically, I had talked to
22 Smith yesterday, just isolating that part of the text,
23 okay? You with me?
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. You did speak to Smith yesterday, meaning
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1 October 18th, correct?
2 A. I spoke to him.
3 Q. All you did was say "hi"?
4 A. We spoke.
5 Q. All you did was say "hi"?
6 A. There could have been other words in that
7 sentence, but we exchanged pleasantries.
8 Q. Mr. Waddell, I'm not trying to be a jerk, I'm
9 really not, but I've read all this stuff three or four
10 times. The only thing I've ever gotten out of your
11 October 18th conversation with Lieutenant Smith is that
12 you each exchanged pleasantries and said hi. Are you
13 changing that now?
14 A. Can somebody say how's it going? There's not
15 much more elaboration to an exchange in pleasantries.
16 Q. Nothing more than that?
17 A. That was it.
18 Q. Basically, I had talked to Smith yesterday
19 about coming in late -- coming in at 11: 30.
20 Again, I want to isolate -- I have to take your
21 words the way they are in the text. If you isolate that
22 out, that is an untrue statement.
23 THE HEARING OFFICER: Is that a question?
24 MR. PALMER: Yes.
25 ///
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1 BY MR. PALMER:
2 Q. That is an untrue statement, correct?
3 MS. CASTILLO: Well, are we just going to stop
4 at every other word and say, is it now an untrue
5 statement, is it now an untrue statement, is it now an
6 untrue statement?
7 THE HEARING OFFICER: I don't know. We'll find
8 out, but he can ask that question. So you can answer
9 it.
10 THE WITNESS: I never believed I was making an
11 untruthful statement in this text message.
12 BY MR. PALMER:
13 Q. You did not talk to Lieutenant Smith yesterday,
14 meaning October 18th, about coming in at 11: 30, did you?
15 A. I did not talk to Lieutenant Smith the day
16 before about coming in late.
17 Q. Because you didn't know you were going to be
18 late until the next day?
19 A. Correct.
20 Q. He said fine, no problem. Do you see that?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. He didn't say fine, no problem on October 18th,
23 did he?
24 A. He did not.
25 Q. All he said was hi and maybe how's it going, as
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1 you've added now?
2 A. Yes.
3 Q. Nothing in your two texts to Sergeant Pfarr
4 talk about your girls being at dance class, does it?
5 A. No.
6 Q. Nothing in your two texts to Sergeant Pfarr
7 talk about you having to wait to supervise your children
8 before your wife could get there to do it, does it?
9 A. No.
10 Q. "Are you still coming in today," was Sergeant
11 Pfarr's question, correct?
12 A. Correct.
13 Q. Okay. And then you responded with how you
14 responded?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. Would you agree with me that Lieutenant Smith
17 had absolutely nothing to do with the reason you were
18 coming in late that day?
19 A. Lieutenant Smith had no involvement in why I
20 was late.
21 Q. Okay. You arrived at the police station and
22 met with Sergeant Pfarr?
23 A. Yes, sir.
24 Q. And that was about 11: 30, I think you said?
25 A. Thereabouts, yes.
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1 Q. And just -- I don't want to misquote you. So,
2 kind of, go over what you said and what he said again
3 because you were going a little fast and I had trouble
4 writing it down.
5 A. When I arrived to the office, I stepped in, I
6 said, hey, what's up, he turned around and asked me
7 where I was, I told him I was at my daughter's dance
8 class, he said okay, he said, you saw Smith yesterday, I
9 said, I saw Smith yesterday, and he replied, he's okay
10 with you coming in, I said, he's okay with it.
11 Q. Okay. Did you elaborate on your daughter's
12 dance class and what happened?
13 A. I did not.
14 Q. Did you tell Sergeant Pfarr that you thought
15 you were going to be able to make it on time, but there
16 was this issue with your wife coming to relieve you?
17 A. I did not.
18 Q. Did you tell Sergeant Pfarr that, in your
19 judgment, Lieutenant Smith was okay with you changing
20 your time of arrival?
21 A. I did not say that to him in the office.
22 THE HEARING OFFICER: While you're looking at
23 that, can I ask a question?
24 MR. PALMER: Sure.
25 THE HEARING OFFICER: One daughter at a dance
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1 event or two daughters at a dance event?
2 THE WITNESS: Two daughters at a dance class,
3 similar to a gymnastics class or something of that
4 nature.
5 THE HEARING OFFICER: Both of them in the class
6 or just one of them in the class and the other one
7 you're supervising?
8 THE WITNESS: Both in classes, in separate
9 classes.
10 THE HEARING OFFICER: All right.
11 BY MR. PALMER:
12 Q. Did you tell Sergeant Pfarr that you had
13 permission from Lieutenant Smith to be late that
14 morning?
15 A. I did not.
16 Q. Did you use any words and phrases that could be
17 reasonably interpreted to be as such?
18 A. No.
19 Q. Do you have a real good memory of the words and
20 phrases that you used during your discussion with
21 Sergeant Pfarr?
22 A. I believe I do.
23 Q. Exhibit 21.
24 A. Uh-huh.
25 Q. Your interview with Lieutenant Bledsoe December
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1 12th --
2 A. Yes.
3 Q. -- Page 6.
4 A. Yes.
5 Q. In the middle of the page, there's a reference
6 to Bledsoe. He is introducing the topic after you
7 arrived at work. You spoke with Sergeant Pfarr at his
8 office. Do you see that?
9 A. A little more assistance.
10 Q. I'm sorry. In the middle.
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. Okay. So we're talking about the same time
13 period I'm talking about in terms of your discussion
14 with Sergeant Pfarr. Are you with me?
15 A. Correct.
16 Q. Down two, three entries, there's a fairly long
17 paragraph attributed to you?
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. "I don't remember exactly what words I used"?
20 A. Correct.
21 Q. Was that true in your interview?
22 A. That I did not remember?
23 Q. Yes, sir.
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. Do you have a better memory now?
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1 A. I do.
2 Q. And why would that be?
3 A. This is all I've had to think about since the
4 day these things happened.
5 Q. You didn't fill out any blanks, did you?
6 A. No.
7 Q. Do you remember Sergeant Pfarr testifying here?
8 A. Yes.
9 Q. Do you remember him saying he had a pretty good
10 memory of the discourse you two had?
11 A. I don't remember him saying that.
12 Q. Okay. And during your interview with
13 Lieutenant Bledsoe, did you tell Lieutenant Bledsoe that
14 Sergeant Pfarr did not make up -- in other words, he's
15 not lying about the version of the conversation that he
16 recalls?
17 A. I recall saying that.
18 Q. Is that true today?
19 A. No.
20 Q. Okay. Why has it changed?
21 A. At the time of my interview, this is the first
22 time I'd been in an IA and I was not trying to point
23 fingers and I was trying to take responsibility for my
24 actions and what I did and what I said. I was not going
25 to speak for other people, I was not going to try to
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1 displace my blame on other people.
2 So here I am today, never thinking it would get
3 to this point, he is lying in this hearing.
4 Q. Okay. Sergeant Pfarr is not making up the fact
5 that you didn't give him notice that you were going to
6 be late, correct?
7 A. He has not made one.
8 Q. He's not making that up, right?
9 A. I did not give him notice.
10 Q. And he's not making up the fact that you
11 arrived late for the shift, right?
12 A. Correct.
13 Q. He's not making up the fact that you and he had
14 a conversation in his office?
15 A. Correct.
16 Q. And he's not making up the fact that you, on
17 your own, thought you had some blanket approval from
18 Lieutenant Smith to flex your shift?
19 MS. CASTILLO: Objection.
20 MR. PALMER: I'll withdraw it.
21 THE HEARING OFFICER: Okay.
22 BY MR. PALMER:
23 Q. In your interview with Lieutenant Bledsoe, did
24 you tell him that you understood that you had
25 overstepped your bounds?
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1 A. Yes.
2 Q. What did you mean by that when you said that?
3 A. That I misinterpreted the past practices of the
4 program in thinking that any last-minute instance to be
5 a few minutes late and adjust those hours or those
6 minutes would be not a problem, not an issue.
7 Q. So your conclusion in that regard was
8 unreasonable, correct?
9 A. I could have been --
10 MS. CASTILLO: Objection. That calls for
11 speculation.
12 THE HEARING OFFICER: I'm going to allow that.
13 THE WITNESS: Read back the question.
14 (Record read by the court reporter.)
15 THE WITNESS: I wouldn't use the word,
16 unreasonable.
17 BY MR. PALMER:
18 Q. Well, I'm just trying to get an idea what you
19 mean by "overstepped my bounds."
20 Because I can point out what you said on Page
21 8, but I don't need to do that, right?
22 A. No. At the time, that's how I felt when I said
23 it.
24 Q. You also told Lieutenant Bledsoe that you made
25 a poor decision in this case, as well?
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1 A. I could be better. I made a poor decision. I
2 could have made different decisions, as you've pointed
3 out here, as well.
4 Q. If you're trying to convince us that your
5 conclusion that you had the tacit approval from
6 Lieutenant Smith to vary your times on a CAT shift, then
7 how is it that you told Lieutenant Bledsoe you made a
8 poor decision?
9 A. Because the decisions I made were poor because
10 they got me in the situation I was in and I could have
11 made different decision that would have put me in a
12 different place. I could have called Sergeant Pfarr or
13 the watch commander, as you said.
14 Q. You also said to Lieutenant Bledsoe that it was
15 your fault for overstepping.
16 A. No one else was involved. I overstepped. I
17 made that decision.
18 Q. And you thought it would be okay, but looking
19 back now, you saw it looked bad. All of these things
20 come from Page 8.
21 A. Me being honest and taking responsibility.
22 Q. Are you still taking responsibility?
23 A. I take responsibility for my actions.
24 Q. And on Page 14, you said you overstepped your
25 interpretation of Smith's permission in the past. Do
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1 you still stand by that?
2 A. I do.
3 Q. Oh. Occasionally, I'm sure Ms. Castillo told
4 you, sometimes us lawyers flip around on topics. It's
5 not because we're trying to be unfair. It's just we
6 write different notes at different times.
7 You recall now sending Sergeant Pfarr a text
8 pic -- picture of the car parts inside the Bentley?
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. You didn't recall that when you were talking
11 with Lieutenant Proll?
12 A. I did not at that time.
13 Q. When did you come by that memory?
14 A. Um, it was after I got my Skelly packets and
15 was able to review them and really think back about all
16 the stuff.
17 Q. Okay. I would think that the only interview
18 transcript from which you would get that information
19 would be Sergeant Pfarr.
20 A. Yes.
21 Q. Okay. So Sergeant Pfarr is not lying about
22 that?
23 A. I was also asked in my interview about it, too.
24 I believe it had. I -- I...
25 Q. In your interview, you didn't recall sending
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1 any pictures, right?
2 A. I did not recall.
3 Q. Okay. Then I assume you get -- the dot I'm
4 connecting here is you get the notice of intent, you get
5 all the supporting material, including Sergeant Pfarr's
6 statement. I assume you read that a few times by now?
7 A. Yes.
8 Q. And you probably came across the fact that, oh,
9 look it there, he remembers me sending him a picture,
10 and it probably connected your memory. Am I getting
11 that right?
12 A. Correct.
13 Q. So that's a situation where your memory was
14 faulty where Sergeant Pfarr's was not?
15 A. It refreshed my memory.
16 Q. Okay. In your direct examination, I have an
17 answer to a question Ms. Castillo posed to you that
18 there was car parts on the ground when you got to the
19 scene of the accident?
20 A. There was a lot of stuff on the ground, but,
21 yes, there were car parts, as well.
22 Q. In an accident like that, I'm sure it was
23 strewn all over the place, right?
24 A. Correct.
25 Q. One of the things you said was the bumpers, or
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1 the bumper?
2 A. Parts, bumper, pieces. It wasn't the whole
3 bumper.
4 Q. Glass?
5 A. There was glass.
6 Q. Personal items from the car?
7 A. Yes.
8 Q. And I wrote down wheel caps.
9 A. You could have it read back. There was a lot
10 of car parts. Whether there was, specifically, a wheel
11 cap off prior to, there could have been.
12 Q. We'll let the transcript speak for itself, but
13 your recollection, now that we've been talking here the
14 last couple hours, is that the wheel cap fell off the
15 wheel when the car was rided onto its wheels?
16 A. I recall them falling off.
17 Q. Okay. Not in the accident, right?
18 A. I could have missed it. It could have fallen
19 off in the accident.
20 Q. The bike team fight call up the large hill, in
21 addition to you, who are the two others?
22 A. Sergeant Kemp, he was a sergeant at the time,
23 he's now an officer, and Officer Chris Chitty.
24 Q. Kemp, K- E-M-P?
25 A. Correct.
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1 Q. And Chris Chitty.
2 Were you aware that on a promotional ranking,
3 that the top three names are treated equally?
4 MS. CASTILLO: Objection. Calls for
5 speculation.
6 THE HEARING OFFICER: If he knows, I'll allow
7 that.
8 THE WITNESS: It's been a while. I don't know
9 off the top of my head how the Memorandum of
10 Understanding is written.
11 BY MR. PALMER:
12 Q. Have you ever heard of the rule of three?
13 A. I've heard of the rule of three.
14 Q. How does the rule of three go, from your
15 perspective?
16 MS. CASTILLO: Objection. Lacks foundation
17 that it's applied to this particular department.
18 THE HEARING OFFICER: Overruled. He can
19 answer, if he knows.
20 THE WITNESS: I, honestly, don't know. I know
21 that it varies from policy to policy, department to
22 department.
23 THE HEARING OFFICER: Okay.
24 BY MR. PALMER:
25 Q. Were you paid for all your DRMO time?
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1 A. Yes.
2 Q. Were you paid for all the time you spent in
3 training?
4 MS. CASTILLO: Vague as to "training."
5 THE HEARING OFFICER: Motorcycle training?
6 MR. PALMER: Yeah, motorcycle training, the
7 accident reconstruction training, all the contents of
8 Exhibit -- I think it's JJ.
9 THE WITNESS: Uh, yes, compensated for
10 training.
11 BY MR. PALMER:
12 Q. In fact, you were sent to those classes by the
13 department?
14 A. Yes.
15 Q. Any of those classes you went to on your own,
16 paid for on your own?
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. Which ones?
19 A. I went to Crush after I was terminated on my
20 own, I went to advanced accident investigation school
21 where the department paid my time and I paid for housing
22 and meals and things like that, travel.
23 MR. PALMER: Take five?
24 THE HEARING OFFICER: Yeah. Do you think --
25 let's go off the record.
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1 (Recess.)
2 THE HEARING OFFICER: Back on the record. Any
3 more questions on cross-examination?
4 MR. PALMER: No, sir, no further questions.
5 THE HEARING OFFICER: Redirect?
6 MS. CASTILLO: Yes.
7
8 REDIRECT EXAMINATION
9 BY MS. CASTILLO:
10 Q. Exhibit 22, please --
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. -- Page 5. I'm sorry. Page 18, 19. Sorry
13 about that.
14 On cross-examination, Mr. Palmer asked you
15 about the conversation during your interview with the
16 investigator wherein you went back to return the
17 screwdriver to the tow truck driver. Do you remember
18 that?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. And that you had said something to the effect
21 of I was just messing with him; is that right?
22 A. Yes.
23 Q. Okay. Then on Page 19, you continue and you
24 explained because they didn't want him to think that
25 there was something to do with me taking things.
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1 Did you actually say that to the tow truck
2 driver or were you saying that to the IA investigator?
3 A. I was saying that to the IA investigator.
4 Q. Okay. Were you ever shown photographs that
5 were in Exhibit 11 during your internal affairs
6 investigation for the Bentley scene?
7 A. I don't recall.
8 Q. Okay. So do you have any recollection of when
9 you were interviewed by Lieutenant Proll of having him
10 or of yourself looking at the photos the way you did
11 with Mr. Palmer and pointing to which wheel it was or
12 which side of the car? Do you remember?
13 A. I don't remember that happening.
14 Q. And you didn't see that anywhere in the
15 transcript, right?
16 A. No.
17 Q. Okay. Do you think that might have helped you
18 to answer those questions that day?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. There was some testimony on cross-examination
21 about the terminology used in terms of practical joke
22 and new sergeant and those questions. Do you remember
23 that?
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. Okay. What were the words that you used as
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1 opposed to the words that the department now wants to
2 put into your mouth?
3 A. Words that I used were messing around, joking.
4 Q. Okay. Did you ever convey to Sergeant Amoroso,
5 that next night when you saw him, the events of the
6 prank that you pulled?
7 A. I did not.
8 Q. You just said, hey, started to pull a prank and
9 it didn't go over well?
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. That was it?
12 A. That was it.
13 Q. We had some testimony on cross about Exhibit K.
14 Can you see it?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. Okay. This is Appellant's Exhibit K.
17 Mr. Palmer asked you, you know, why was this an
18 example, in your opinion, of good or bad communication
19 from Lieutenant Smith. Do you remember that?
20 A. Yes.
21 Q. Okay. Can you explain what your opinion was
22 and why?
23 A. My opinion in K as to why it was not good
24 communication was because the time frame in which
25 Officer Dickel and I were trying to interact with
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1 Lieutenant Smith, it took him eight days to reply and,
2 at this point, Officer Dickel was still waiting to find
3 out if this was something that was going to work or not.
4 I was still waiting. So this is the delay and not
5 having good communication.
6 Q. Okay. What exhibit are we on? Am I on L -- M.
7 Right?
8 THE HEARING OFFICER: Yes. MM.
9 BY MS. CASTILLO:
10 Q. So Appellant's MM --
11 THE HEARING OFFICER: Mm when you say it
12 together. KK is a text I get from my children.
13 MS. CASTILLO: Oh, KK?
14 THE HEARING OFFICER: Uh-huh.
15 MR. PALMER: Thank you.
16 MS. CASTILLO: Uh-huh. I'm handing you what
17 I'm marking as Appellant's MM.
18 THE HEARING OFFICER: Thank you.
19 BY MS. CASTILLO:
20 Q. Have you seen this e-mail before?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. This appears to be communications between --
23 starting at the bottom, Lieutenant Smith, on August 28th
24 of 2013, going up through, it looks like, September 29th
25 of 2013, regarding fall downtown foot patrol OT?
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1 A. Yes.
2 Q. And this is for the CAT shift?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. Okay. And is this about coverage for someone
5 else's shifts that had been previously assigned?
6 A. Yes.
7 Q. Can you explain what this e-mail is, how it
8 relates to you?
9 A. As it relates to me is I was going to be the
10 recipient of several shifts from Officer Dickel and he
11 was facilitating that approval process and then I never
12 heard anything back about it after I agreed to take them
13 and we were approaching these dates and my scheduling.
14 So I wanted to know if I was going to be
15 working them or not because SpeedShift had never been
16 updated. So there was no way for me to verify. So I
17 was checking to see. That's how it impacted me.
18 Q. So how long did you wait for a response from
19 the lieutenant?
20 A. Um, between the time that Officer Dickel and I
21 had arranged it for me to work his shift, it was
22 September 18th, and it was not until September 29th that
23 I actually had confirmation for working those shifts.
24 Q. Okay. So -- but these e-mails that we're
25 talking about are examples of notice in advance and this
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1 is still an example of some kind of not the best
2 communication --
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. -- by Lieutenant Smith?
5 Okay. But, really, what we're talking about is
6 last minute can't get to work kind of situations on the
7 October date for this hearing, right?
8 A. For October 19th?
9 Q. Yes.
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. Okay. Let's talk more about that.
12 On that date, we heard some about this dance
13 class.
14 And is it just you sitting in a chair like
15 Mr. Palmer assumed?
16 A. No.
17 Q. What is it?
18 A. Um, as I answered Mr. Cameron, I have two
19 daughters that are in two separate dance classes and, as
20 I've said, my one daughter has special needs. She was
21 more of a developmental level of a three-year-old at
22 that time. So she was in a special needs dance class,
23 and my one daughter, who was five at the time, could be
24 left in her own class to stay in that class. This other
25 daughter, the older daughter, the special needs, she
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1 would not stay in the class. It was an upstairs
2 classroom. So you had to be there and monitor her to
3 constantly redirect her. That's just one of her needs,
4 is that she has the cognitive understanding of what
5 right and wrong is and when to do things and why we have
6 to do things.
7 So it's not a situation where you're allowed to
8 sit in a chair and relax while someone baby-sits your
9 kids at the dance class. That's not the way it is with
10 her.
11 Q. Okay. So should you have picked up the phone
12 and called the department to let them know you were
13 going to, potentially, be late that day?
14 A. Yes.
15 Q. Are you disputing that?
16 A. No.
17 Q. Did you let the person that you knew for sure
18 you were going to be working with, Detective Stahnke,
19 know that there was a potential that you might be a
20 little bit late?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. Did you have any actual knowledge that you were
23 100 percent going to be late?
24 A. At the time I texted him?
25 Q. Right.
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1 A. No.
2 Q. We heard some information about that Lieutenant
3 Smith and Sergeant Pfarr had pulled your time cards and
4 we've heard some testimony in this hearing about
5 Sergeant Pfarr wanting to talk to you on or around
6 October 12th about being late. Do you recall that?
7 A. Yes.
8 Q. Okay. Did you know any of this walking into
9 the situation the 18th?
10 A. No.
11 Q. What did you know?
12 A. At that point, I was operating with the
13 understanding that there was flexibility within the
14 program to adjust your time at last-minute instances and
15 it wouldn't be a problem and it's not an issue.
16 Q. Okay. Are we talking about you just adjusting
17 your schedule whenever you want?
18 A. No.
19 Q. Are we talking about you just flexing here and
20 there when it's convenient for you, and you, alone?
21 A. No.
22 Q. Were you talking about you making your own
23 schedule for CAT?
24 A. No.
25 Q. Have you ever seen these time cards that they
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1 were talking about that would have shown when you were
2 late?
3 A. They never showed me any time cards.
4 Q. And there's no time cards that were part of the
5 Skelly packet that were provided to you, right?
6 A. No.
7 Q. When Sergeant Pfarr texted you when you were
8 those, you know, at this point, 11 minutes late, you
9 didn't blow him off, right?
10 A. No.
11 Q. You responded to him?
12 A. I did.
13 Q. And you let him know that you were coming in
14 and you were sorry that you were late?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. When you mentioned Lieutenant Smith as part of
17 your text conversation, Lieutenant Smith still worked
18 for the department, right?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. There's no confusion that any kind of
21 conversation would have been easily verifiable, right?
22 A. Right.
23 Q. When you said that, you would absolutely -- or
24 you said okay to the text conversation that you would
25 come by the office.
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1 Did you expect to explain to Sergeant Pfarr
2 what you meant in those text messages?
3 A. No.
4 Q. If there was any kind of confusion about
5 anything, at some point, did you expect that you would
6 be given the opportunity to let people know what you
7 meant?
8 A. Yes.
9 Q. Did you believe that Lieutenant Smith had an
10 awareness of these issues that caused you to
11 occasionally be late to your CAT shift?
12 A. Yes.
13 Q. And is that why you believe that there was some
14 kind of accommodations made here and there, only as
15 necessary?
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. What is the percentage of time, roughly, that
18 that was when you required accommodations?
19 A. Less than a half an hour.
20 Q. And only when issues came up?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. Not just when you felt like it?
23 A. Correct.
24 Q. I believe your testimony was under certain
25 parameters. What did you mean by that?
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1 A. For the flexing or for --
2 Q. Yeah. When you would have to come in a little
3 bit late or leave a little bit earlier.
4 A. My understanding is where those instances were
5 unavoidable, last minute, not planned, would be
6 examples.
7 Q. On Page 20 -- or Page 6 of Exhibit 21 --
8 MR. PALMER: I'm sorry. What page?
9 MS. CASTILLO: 6.
10 THE WITNESS: Yes.
11 BY MS. CASTILLO:
12 Q. Okay. When you spoke to Sergeant Pfarr when
13 you came into the office the first time, he asked you
14 where were you, right?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. And what did you say?
17 A. I told him that I was at my daughter's dance
18 class.
19 Q. Other than that, did you have any other
20 full-blown conversation with him?
21 A. No.
22 Q. When you said -- these aren't line-numbered.
23 When he asked you if you'd gotten approval from
24 Smith and you said I had approval before, what were you
25 trying to convey?
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1 A. I was trying to convey my understanding of the
2 practice that was going on in this program, that
3 unforeseen instances were accommodated with flexibility.
4 Q. Are you disputing that you were late --
5 A. No.
6 Q. -- on that day?
7 A. No.
8 Q. Are you disputing that you had permission from
9 Lieutenant Smith to come in late that day --
10 A. No.
11 Q. -- specific permission?
12 A. No.
13 Q. So while you're not disputing that you were
14 late, are you disputing that you were dishonest or made
15 false statements?
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. Both in your text messages and in your
18 statements to your supervisors?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. And in your internal affairs investigations?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. And are you disputing that you committed any
23 kind of vehicle code violation?
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. Do you believe that the penalty in this case is
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1 appropriate?
2 A. No.
3 Q. Why not?
4 A. What's -- what -- rhetorical question, what's
5 the penalty for being late to work? That was all I've
6 done wrong, was late to work. In either instance, in
7 either case, that's the only thing I've done wrong.
8 Q. You've testified that you agreed that, on the
9 night of the Bentley incident, you probably shouldn't
10 have done -- played the practical joke that you did;
11 would you agree with that?
12 A. Yes.
13 Q. Obviously, you probably wouldn't do that again,
14 would you?
15 A. No.
16 Q. Do you think that the termination is an
17 appropriate penalty?
18 A. No.
19 MS. CASTILLO: I don't have anything else.
20 THE HEARING OFFICER: Recross?
21 MR. PALMER: Just briefly.
22
23 RECROSS-EXAMINATION
24 BY MR. PALMER:
25 Q. Would you agree with me that had you told
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1 Sergeant Pfarr that you had a problem transferring the
2 care of your children to your wife's care and that's
3 what made you late, that we probably only would be
4 talking about a penalty for being late?
5 MS. CASTILLO: Objection. Calls for
6 speculation.
7 THE HEARING OFFICER: Overruled. You can
8 answer.
9 THE WITNESS: That would have helped my
10 situation.
11 MR. PALMER: Nothing further.
12 THE HEARING OFFICER: Anything else?
13 MS. CASTILLO: No.
14 THE HEARING OFFICER: All right. Then we'll
15 step down. I mean, you're still there. So let's go off
16 the record for a second.
17 (Discussion off the record.)
18 THE HEARING OFFICER: So we're admitting,
19 without objection, Appellant's MM. Let's go off the
20 record.
21 (Recess.)
22 THE HEARING OFFICER: We're back on the record.
23 Good afternoon, Officer Inglehart. My name's Chris
24 Cameron. I'm the hearing officer. It's my job to make
25 sure we get your testimony. So let's begin the usual
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1 way.
2 Could you raise your right hand? Do you affirm
3 that the testimony you are about to give will be the
4 truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
5 THE WITNESS: Yes.
6 THE HEARING OFFICER: Great. Put your hand
7 down. I think we already have the spelling of your
8 name.
9
10 DIRECT EXAMINATION
11 BY MS. CASTILLO:
12 Q. Hi.
13 A. Hi.
14 Q. You look like you work for San Luis Obispo
15 Police Department.
16 A. I do.
17 Q. For how long?
18 A. Over 11 years now.
19 Q. What's your assignment?
20 A. I'm a downtown bike officer.
21 Q. And sometimes do you work in the downtown bike
22 office?
23 A. Yes.
24 Q. Did you ever work with Officer Kevin Waddell?
25 A. I did.
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1 Q. In what capacity?
2 A. He was my partner for almost two years.
3 Q. And was that when he was a downtown bike
4 officer?
5 A. Yes.
6 Q. And during that time period, were you
7 supervised, ever, by Sergeant Amoroso?
8 A. Yes.
9 Q. Were you ever supervised by Sergeant Pfarr?
10 A. Not directly, but, yes, occasionally.
11 Q. Okay. Do you remember a time period sometime
12 when Officer Waddell was in Europe around June 2013
13 learning about a movie incident in the downtown bike
14 office?
15 A. A movie incident?
16 Q. Right. Officer Waddell watching a movie or
17 something to that effect?
18 A. I was never asked about it, but I was told that
19 there was an incident of him taking a break, watching a
20 show, yes.
21 Q. What did you hear?
22 A. That he was watching a show on his break while
23 he was eating some food and Sergeant Pfarr came in and
24 asked him what he was doing.
25 Q. Who told you about that?
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1 A. Officer Waddell.
2 Q. And how did he tell you about that?
3 A. He just said that he was taking a break and
4 that Sergeant Pfarr came in and he was eating some food
5 and watching a show on his break and that he asked him
6 about it.
7 Q. And when did you learn about this?
8 A. I don't know a specific date. It's been so
9 long. I couldn't tell you, exactly.
10 Q. Do you remember sending Officer Waddell an
11 e-mail when he was in Europe about this conversation?
12 A. Sending him an e-mail?
13 Q. Yes.
14 A. I don't recall sending him an e-mail.
15 Q. Do you recall a conversation with Sergeant
16 Amoroso learning that Pfarr was venting about the movie
17 incident to Sergeant Amoroso?
18 A. I recall that Sergeant Pfarr asked Sergeant
19 Amoroso about it, but I don't know what ever came of
20 that because I'm not a supervisor. So I don't know.
21 Q. Do you remember warning Officer Waddell that
22 they were upset about it?
23 A. I remember saying -- because he said he was
24 upset about it and I said, okay, what were you doing, he
25 said I was taking a break, and I said, okay, well, what
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1 was the conversation about, and he said that Sergeant
2 Pfarr was upset with him for watching a movie, and I
3 said, okay, well, what did you guys talk about, and he
4 said that -- he said I was taking my break, watching a
5 show, and that's all I remember saying, was that maybe I
6 shouldn't do that, but I don't remember what, exactly,
7 was said.
8 Q. So what did you learn from Amoroso then?
9 A. Nothing. He never addressed it and said, hey,
10 this is a problem, hey, this is -- because I don't -- it
11 wasn't a problem. So I don't know what -- I never got
12 addressed because I wasn't there. So I don't know.
13 Q. So there was no issues with watching movies in
14 the downtown bike office, that you were aware of?
15 A. No. I mean, we shouldn't do it on duty, we
16 should tend to our duties. Maybe I don't understand the
17 question. It never was brought up in any eval with me
18 or any issue with Sergeant Amoroso to me that said, hey,
19 you guys are doing this and that was what we weren't
20 doing. So I don't know what the concern is.
21 Q. Do you remember, around the time period of
22 November 9th of 2013, Sergeant Pfarr looking for Officer
23 Waddell around that time period?
24 A. Sorry. What day, again?
25 Q. November 9th, 2013.
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1 A. I'm really bad with dates. Is that a day that
2 I was working?
3 Q. Yes.
4 A. Okay.
5 Q. And he was looking for Officer Waddell before
6 his shift even started. Do you recall that?
7 A. I don't.
8 Q. Do you have any recollection of being
9 supervised during the time period around November when
10 Sergeant Pfarr was the CAT shift watch commander at a
11 time period when you and Officer Waddell worked
12 together?
13 A. He was working Sundays at that time. So he was
14 a sergeant on duty. We would come in -- I think it was
15 a four-hour block and so we would send him a message
16 when we were there, and that's usually what our standard
17 operation procedure was at that time, was to send him an
18 e-mail or an IM saying, hey, we're on duty, we're
19 working this overtime shift.
20 Q. Okay. What do you mean an IM?
21 A. Instant message.
22 Q. From where?
23 A. Either the city MDC or the car MDCs or at the
24 station if we were logged in at the station.
25 Q. Why would you do that?
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1 A. Let him know we're on duty and we're here
2 because we have to check in with dispatch, too.
3 Q. Is that standard?
4 A. Yes.
5 Q. Did everyone do that?
6 A. I don't know if everyone did it. That's what I
7 did and that's what Officer Waddell did. I remember,
8 many times, we used the MDC to alert a sergeant if he
9 was out on a call, or whatever, that we were on duty.
10 THE HEARING OFFICER: Is that referring to an
11 on-board computer in the squad car?
12 THE WITNESS: Yes. Each car is outfitted with
13 a mobile field computer that has a messaging system and,
14 a lot of times, if a sergeant is busy on a call,
15 obviously, we can't call because he's on a call, dealing
16 with something, then we will send him a message saying
17 we're on duty, we checked in with dispatch.
18 THE HEARING OFFICER: So it's an MB -- what --
19 THE WITNESS: MDC.
20 THE HEARING OFFICER: MDC. Got it.
21 BY MS. CASTILLO:
22 Q. Do you remember the day that Officer Waddell
23 was placed on administrative leave?
24 A. Yes, I do.
25 Q. Do you know what day that was?
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1 A. I don't recall the specific date, but I was on
2 duty with him when he got called into the office.
3 Q. And did you have any conversation with any
4 supervisors that day?
5 A. I did.
6 Q. Who?
7 A. At the time, Chief Gesell was downtown right
8 after the incident and he asked how I was doing and I
9 said I wasn't doing well and he said just let the
10 process play out, what his words were to me.
11 Q. Did you have a conversation with any other
12 supervisors?
13 A. I think I talked to Sergeant Amoroso over the
14 phone and was, again, just very confused on what was
15 going on and wanted to get some guidance and he said he
16 didn't know anything about it and just to wait for
17 further instruction.
18 Q. Did you ever talk to Sergeant Pfarr?
19 A. I never talked to Sergeant Pfarr directly. I
20 did the next day and he just told me this needs to play
21 out and just to, you know, keep doing what I've been
22 doing.
23 Q. Did he ever tell you to stay out of Officer
24 Waddell's IA?
25 A. He referred to just trying to keep a positive
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1 outlook and he said that I should keep my head up and
2 not get dragged into it, is what he told me.
3 Q. Did he tell you that they were looking at
4 attitudes in the department and that you had your own
5 open IA and you should, kind of, watch yourself?
6 A. He said that I should watch my attitude and I
7 said I understand, but Kevin is my friend and I was
8 upset and I said I wasn't going to be -- you know, I
9 wasn't going to be a problem, but I was also upset, he
10 was a friend of mine, he's a personal friend, and I felt
11 bad about the situation. So, yeah, he alluded that I
12 should watch what I'm doing.
13 Q. Did you have -- did you ever see any
14 interactions between Sergeant Pfarr and Officer Waddell
15 that -- strike that.
16 How often did you work downtown bike patrol
17 with Officer Waddell?
18 A. Well, we worked four days a week together.
19 Q. Okay. What was your impression of his work
20 ethic?
21 A. I thought it was fine, I thought it was good.
22 We were a pretty active unit, him and I, with Sergeant
23 Amoroso, we were always downtown doing our checks,
24 visiting the bars, felt we ran a really good unit.
25 Q. Did you -- were you proactive?
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