An officer fired this year for violating several department policies will have an appeal hearing in August.
Officer Chris Falco was fired March 8 and was scheduled to appeal his firing this month before the city’s Civil Service Commission.
But last month, both Falco’s lawyer and the city attorney’s office asked the commission to cancel that hearing as well as one next month during which Falco was scheduled to appeal another disciplinary matter. Lawyers said the hearings would be so lengthy they required a new date be scheduled.
On Tuesday, the commission voted to cancel both appeals, combine the two cases and hear all of it from Aug. 6 to Aug. 17.
Matt Cain, civil service administrator, said the hearing is scheduled to be open to the public.
According to the department, Falco was fired because he neglected duty, had an unsatisfactory performance, and violated rules of professional conduct and responsibility.
Falco gained notoriety for his role last year in a controversial shooting that left one man dead and another injured. Detective Frank Fania, a spokesman for the department, said last week that none of the disciplinary actions Falco is appealing stems from the shooting.
According to appeals filed by Falco’s lawyer, he is appealing his discipline in four “separate, independent and wholly unrelated events,” each of which the four-year veteran was disciplined for. Beyond his termination, Falco was suspended for 240 hours early this year in a separate case.
Falco’s lawyer, Brian Reynolds, did not return a call or email seeking comment this week.
The appeals Reynolds filed on Falco’s behalf shed little light on what the four incidents involved.
Arapahoe County prosecutors last year cleared Falco of criminal wrongdoing for his role in the March 20, 2011, shooting that left Oleg Gidenko, dead and Yevgeni Straystar wounded.
Last year the city settled out of court with Straystar and Gidenko’s families. According to a settlement signed in November, the city will pay Straystar $215,000 in exchange for the 18-year-old not bringing a lawsuit against the city in connection with shooting that left him partially paralyzed. The city paid Gidenko’s family about $150,000, according to reports.
A third man was with Gidenko and Straystar but police said he wasn’t seriously injured.
Police say the three men were stealing parts from a car in a lot when officers tried to arrest them. Gidenko tried to flee the lot in a stolen pickup truck when Officer Falco and another officer opened fire, according the Arapahoe County district attorney’s office.
Prosecutors cleared the officers but city officials said the officers violated a department policy by shooting at a moving vehicle.
Reach reporter Brandon Johansson at 720-449-9040 or bjohansson@aurorasentinel.com