Portland Police Union Files Grievance to Get Fired Officer Brian Hunzeker His Job Back

The Portland Police Association filed a grievance against the city following the March 1 termination of Portland Police Bureau Officer Brian Hunzeker, the former PPA president who resigned from the union nearly a year ago after he leaked information from a confidential incident report that incorrectly named Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty as a suspect in a hit-and-run crash.

Through a public records request, WW obtained a copy Tuesday afternoon of the March 4 letter that PPA president Aaron Schmautz addressed to PPB Chief Chuck Lovell.

“The discipline was not for just cause, is not supported by proven policy violations, is disproportionate to any offense committed by Grievant, is out of keeping with the standards of discipline in the Bureau, fails to take mitigating circumstances into account, violates the principles of progressive discipline, is untimely, and amounts to disparate treatment,” Schmautz said. “The City also failed to discipline Grievant in a manner least likely to embarrass Grievant before other officers or the public.”

As for the requested remedy, Schmautz wrote the following:

“That the discipline be rescinded; that all reference of this matter be removed from Grievant’s personnel files; that the Grievant be made whole for all lost wages and benefits, together with interest; and that such other relief be awarded as may be appropriate under the circumstances.”