Policeman Fired By Chief Is Reinstated

A Seattle Police officer fired last year for beating a man in his custody has been reinstated by the Public Safety Civil Service Commission.

In a unanimous decision last week, the three commissioners - Arthur Joyner, administrator of the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Guild; Maura O'Neill, a management consultant; and Seattle Police Lt. Dan Oliver - agreed the firing of Gregory Drury was not consistent with similar disciplinary actions taken by the department in the past .

Neither Police Chief Patrick Fitzsimons, who fired the officer, nor Drury was available for comment.

Drury was fired after being found guilty in Seattle Municipal Court of assaulting Phillip Hicks, whom Drury and his partner, Jose Cepeda, arrested Aug. 27, 1988.

Hicks, 30, of Federal Way, complained that he was taken from downtown to an area near the Kingdome, where he was beaten and suffered injuries to his face and a leg.

The department's internal investigations unit investigated the matter, which led to the misdemeanor charge against Drury and a 30-day suspension for Cepeda.

Drury, who denied hitting Hicks, was found guilty and given a suspended sentence for the assault. He later was fired from the police department. He appealed the Municipal Court conviction to King County Superior Court, where the verdict was upheld.

The Civil Service Commission reinstated Drury but added another 30 days to his suspension, put him on probation for a year and ordered that he be retrained in procedures for arrest and transportation of prisoners.

Drury was suspended for about seven months in all, according to Dallas Shockley, executive director of the commission.