Appeals Hearing
for Beckmann Demotion Set
by José Pérez
The hearing to review the demotion earlier this year of
Miami-Dade County fire fighter Brian Beckmann for derisive comments he posted
online earlier this year has been set for January, an official with the County
Attorney’s Office informed the Miami
Times.
William Candela said that Beckmann’s appeals
hearing to reverse his May 14, 2012 demotion from Captain to fire fighter as a
result of a rant he posted on his personal Facebook page in which he disparaged
the judge in the Trayvon Martin murder case as well as African-Americans in
general will be on January 14,
2013. “That date has been set in
stone,” said Candela who will argue on behalf of Miami-Dade County to uphold
that disciplinary action.
The January hearing, which will be open to the public, is
the latest episode in a continuing story that started last spring when
Beckmann’s comments were originally posted online. Although the comments were removed and the
facebook account was soon removed altogether shortly thereafter, the image of
the page posting was already captured and was published by Joy Reid of The Grio
Report igniting a firestorm for the Department and County.
For retired county employee and local activist William
Clark, who along with others pushed for Beckmann’s termination, there is still
work to be done specifically to be called as witnesses for the County to
testify against Beckmann. Clark said
that he believes that “victims are going to be absent. “ He said that he and others in Dade County’s
Black community “are the victims of [Beckmann’s] remarks” because fire fighters
are “first responders who go straight to the homes of the people.” Hence for him and others who question
Beckmann’s commitment to protect, safety in the hands of someone like the
embattled fire fighter is a concern. “I
don’t want to take a chance with this guy saving me,” said Clark of Beckmann.
Simply put, said Clark, “we want the county attorney to
subpoena the victims.”
When asked about who will be called as witness, Candela
said, “I am going to make the determination.
I have not made it yet.” Candela
said that such hearings are “really common” in a workforce that has “27,000
county employees.” These hearings
involve a union lawyer, a county attorney to argue opposing sides of the case,
an independent arbitrator to hear the case, and witnesses called by each side.
Adding to the intrigue in the case, the Miami Herald published redacted copies
of Miami-Dade County documentation relating to the case [please see below]. For example, in a county memorandum titled
“Findings of Fact Report” sent by Dave Downey, Assistant Chief of Operations to
Chief William Bryson on May 11, 2012, Beckmann denied that he wrote the
statements that set off the controversy.
*To read the print version of this article, please click here.
