A former Pittsburgh police officer who’s been in trouble dozens of times throughout his career will not return to the force. An arbitrator recently upheld the termination of Paul Abel Jr., who was fired after an incident involving a homeless man on the North Side in December near Heinz Field, city officials said.

Tim McNulty, a spokesman for the city, confirmed the termination, but could not provide any additional information. No documents were publicly available on the disciplinary action.

Abel, who has been the subject of multiple civil lawsuits, was terminated by the city in the past, only to be reinstated.

Elizabeth Pittinger, the executive director of the Pittsburgh Citizen Police Review Board, praised the arbitrator’s decision to uphold the firing.

“We’re relieved the system worked and hope the public finds some renewed confidence in it,” Pittinger said.

She was unsure which case led to Abel’s termination, or if it was a combination of several incidents.

Abel was investigated in September following an incident he was involved in while off duty at a Squirrel Hill farmers market.

A man approached Abel and told him his “thin blue line” mask, a black and white American flag with a blue stripe, was disrespectful to the American flag.

Multiple videos posted to Twitter taken by onlookers show the latter portion of the incident, including onlookers asking the officer why he was detaining the man and the man repeatedly asking whether he was being arrested and on what charges.

The man, Daniel Evan Holc, was charged with resisting arrest, defiant trespass, disorderly conduct and drug counts. A preliminary hearing on those charges is scheduled for April 1.

Abel also was named as a defendant in a federal lawsuit in January in which he was accused of falsely arresting a woman at one of last summer’s George Floyd protests.

Pittinger said that Abel’s list of disciplinary infractions is long and has gone on for nearly 20 years.

He was named as a defendant in a wrongful death lawsuit stemming from the death of an Altoona man in Mt. Oliver on Dec. 22, 2002.

In that incident, Abel, along with several other officers, including his brother Matthew Abel, who worked for the Mt. Oliver police department, attempted to arrest Charles Dixon, who had caused a disturbance at the Mt. Oliver Fire Hall.

As officers were handcuffing Dixon, he was deprived of oxygen from the weight of officers on his back and stomach as they tried to handcuff him.

Mt. Oliver paid $850,000 to settle a federal lawsuit in that case.

“He’s done so many things,” Pittinger said. “Fundamentally, the city will be safer.”

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