You really do have to give these folks full marks for going all the way with this one:
The city of Ontario spent almost $134,000 in legal fees in its failed attempt to fire a civilian police records specialist who officials accused of stealing a $2.99 energy bar from a convenience store in 2018, according to records obtained by the Southern California News Group.
In a nutshell, this young woman was fired on the basis of security footage that was ruled inconclusive by at least one police officer as well as a video forensic analyst. Yet a local judge ultimately ordered her reinstated to her post, but not before the city had racked up sky-high legal fees:
City records obtained through the California Public Records Act showed that the city and the union each paid $11,025 to the arbitrator, Edna E.J. Francis. And the city paid multiple invoices totaling about $122,841.09 to the law firm Liebert Cassidy Whitmore.
Wow yeah that's...
I mean, quite apart from the wisdom of firing this woman over that particular offense, to drop that kind of change on it is just ridiculous. If it's gonna take that much, it's not worth it.
Still, the city apparently decided:
Well, she got the message. And she got to keep her job, too! Well done, Ontario.
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