SUTTONS BAY -- A judge dismissed a lawsuit filed on behalf of Leelanau County sheriff's deputy Bruce Beeker and refused to issue an order that would return him to patrol duties.
Circuit Court Judge Philip E. Rodgers' decision means Beeker will remain on desk duty, where he has worked since the department rehired him in August after a labor dispute.
Leelanau Sheriff Mike Oltersdorf fired Beeker, 39, in April 2006 after he repeatedly made inappropriate contacts with a woman who assaulted her ex-boyfriend. Beeker, who responded to the assault, asked the woman to go four-wheeling with him and later called her dozens of times and visited her at home.
Arbitrator E. Frank Cornelius eventually ordered the department to reinstate Beeker, contending the department didn't have a good reason to fire him, based on the Police Officers Association of Michigan contract with the sheriff's department.
Beeker ultimately returned to work after a series of psychological evaluations, but he was given a desk job.
The POAM then sued the department and Oltersdorf, claiming the department violated the arbitration ruling by refusing to give Beeker law enforcement duties, among other things.
Rodgers lashed out at Beeker and Cornelius in a written opinion issued Monday. He said Cornelius was biased and at times "unconscionable," and he called Beeker's conduct "totally inappropriate."
Rodgers said neither Cornelius nor the union has the authority to order the department to give Beeker law enforcement duties. He called portions of Cornelius' opinions "off the rail," and said Cornelius repeatedly tried to downplay Beeker's behavior.
"Rather than address the issue before him, the arbitrator went to great lengths to find that either Beeker did not do that which he had already admitted doing or to minimize the significance of Beeker's conduct," Rodgers wrote.
Oltersdorf said the union wasted thousands of taxpayer dollars by pursuing the issue.
"The sad thing about this is they knew what the end result was going to be," he said.
POAM attorney George J. Mertz did not return a call for comment.
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