Veteran says regaining Metro police job was hardest part of tour of duty

Brian Petty (left) stands with an army chaplain on the Zigguart of Ur near modern-day Nasiriyah in Dhi Qar Province, Iraq, in March 2004.

Metro police Patrol Sgt. Brian Petty was three years into his supervisory rank when his whole life changed. It was 2003, his 12th year on the force and his 14th as a member of the U.S. Army Reserve.

In the fall of that year, the reserve tapped him to command a unit in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Petty didn’t think much of temporarily leaving the police force to serve his country. Federal law puts certain requirements on employers to hold positions open for their employees who are deployed in the military.

But when Petty, now 43, returned to work as a Nashville police officer in February of 2005, the department balked, unsettled by charges he faced while stationed in Kuwait — something he acknowledged to the department in a return-to-work questionnaire without offering the reason.

While he served at Camp Navistar, a health and welfare inspection of his quarters turned up a “jerry can” — a five-gallon gas can such as one seen on the back of an Army Jeep — filled with homemade wine, which Petty shared with a subordinate female officer.

Metro police refused to reinstate Petty as a patrol sergeant. His resulting lawsuit would pit the department’s return-to-work process, as well as its position of zero tolerance for what it claimed was dishonesty, against the longstanding federal policy that protects the jobs of those who serve in the armed forces.

Wine in the desert

Petty took a leave from Metro police in November 2003 and headed to Chattanooga for deployment preparations. His unit mobilized on Jan. 2, 2004, spent a brief period at Fort Stewart, Ga., and shipped out to Kuwait.

As a captain in the reserve — and unofficial “mayor” of Camp Navistar — Petty oversaw the day-to-day operations of the camp, including housing, food and general repairs. While there, he said an Italian man serving in the Navy taught him how to ferment wine using a five-gallon jerry can and roughly 10 bowls of grapes, six pounds of sugar, a couple tablespoons of yeast and six liters of water.

He claimed he obtained the alcohol later found in his tent at the request of a superior who told him it would be used to negotiate with a neighboring Kuwaiti farmer to cut down some trees blocking the camp’s guard towers.

Alcohol is hard to come by for Kuwaitis, Petty said, so in cases such as the one at Camp Navistar, strong drink can be a good bargaining chip.

“Most people think Arabs don’t drink — they do. Not all of them, but a lot of them do. I’ve watched them,” Petty said.

Hard work

Knowledge of Petty’s wine climbed up the chain of command, and a few months later a formal reprimand came down. He was charged with violation of a lawful order (possessing or manufacturing alcohol) and conduct unbecoming of an officer, for offering it to an enlisted soldier.

But Petty also admitted to taking a nip off the top for personal use, according to court filings. As for the female soldier he shared a drink with, Petty told The City Paper, “We were just friends … taking care of your buddies, that sort of thing.”

A military judge arraigned Petty in late 2004, and instead of facing court martial, he asked to resign “for the good of the service.” The Army notified him on Jan. 15, 2005, that his resignation was approved, and consequently it formally dismissed all charges against him.

Petty returned home, taking a few weeks’ personal time. On Feb. 28, 2005, he requested reinstatement to the police force and subsequently faced the department’s return-to-work process — something all officers away for more than six months are subject to, and which is meant to ensure an officer is still fit to serve.

As part of that process, Petty filled out the questionnaire and returned to work on Mar. 21, 2005, but as a desk jockey answering phones and doing paperwork in the Central Precinct’s “bubble,” which in a court memo Metro describes as the area where “disempowered” officers and those facing discipline go.

Meanwhile, the police department’s Office of Professional Accountability opened an investigation into Petty’s return-to-work papers.

Petty, still seeking his old job as patrol sergeant, filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee on Sept. 6, 2005. Judge Todd J. Campbell initially ruled against him, saying the police force’s return-to-work process did not violate federal law.

The Uniformed Services Employment and Re-employment Rights Act became law on Oct. 13, 1994. It applies to members of the military returning to civilian employment, establishing certain rights and benefits for employees, and requiring employers to hold jobs for them upon their return. A sentence by court-martial would have negated his re-employment rights under USERRA.

Petty appealed Campbell’s ruling, and on Aug. 18, 2008, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit overturned the previous ruling.

Following a hearing on Feb. 25 of this year, Campbell granted Petty a partial summary judgment on his re-employment claims and ordered the department to reinstate him as patrol sergeant. As for Petty’s other claims regarding back pay and extra–duty pay, Campbell denied a summary judgment on them, meaning those details will be sorted out when the case heads to trial in May.

The case won’t be settled officially until after the trial. Metro will then have 30 days to appeal.

Police spokesman Don Aaron confirmed to The City Paper that Petty was reinstated March 2. His first day back was Friday, March 12.

Aaron deferred further questioning to the Metro Department of Law, who declined to discuss specifics of the case.

Petty said serving in wartime was less stressful than getting his job back.

“You’re trained for that stuff,” he said. “Nobody’s ever been trained for a lawsuit that I’m aware of. That’s a different battle.”