Pittsburgh police union appeals firing of former officer Paul Abel

The union that represents the Pittsburgh police is appealing the firing of an officer who has been in trouble dozens of times on technical grounds.

Fraternal Order of Police Fort Pitt Lodge No. 1 filed a petition to vacate last month’s arbitration award, which found in favor of the City of Pittsburgh’s termination of former officer Paul Abel.

Abel was fired in December. He has been the subject of several investigations by the Citizen Police Review Board and has been sued multiple times, including in a case involving a man’s death in December 2002.

His record of disciplinary infractions goes back nearly two decades.

Last month, a three-member arbitration panel upheld Abel’s firing which stemmed from an incident with a homeless person on Oct. 11 while Abel was working an off-duty detail at Heinz Field.

Abel was controlling traffic at the intersection of Allegheny Avenue and Casino Drive when he arrested a homeless man, according to a document attached to the FOP petition,

Abel charged the man, whose name is redacted from the document, with obstructing highways, disorderly conduct and access device fraud.

However, the man never obstructed traffic or panhandled, according to the arbitration summary.

According to the filing, Abel’s supervisor was present during the arrest and then subsequently reviewed the criminal complaint. In addition, there was video from a surveillance camera and Abel’s body camera.

On Nov. 5, the supervisor issued Abel a disciplinary action report, which was then forwarded, along with the other video and documentation to Chief Scott Schubert and Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich.

On Nov. 20, the charges against the homeless man were withdrawn by Deputy Chief Tom Stangrecki.

On Dec. 1, Abel received a five-day suspension pending termination.

In March, the arbitration panel found that there was just cause to fire Abel.

In its summary award, the panel said that there was no evidence of the man panhandling or obstructing traffic. And although he did become disorderly when asked for identification, the panel wrote, “what occurred subsequently should have been deescalated and did not provide justification for the events that followed.

“As determined by command staff, there was no justification for Officer Abel’s conduct, and as noted by the chief of police, harms his credibility to perform all aspects of his police duties.”

The findings do not clarify what Abel did.

A spokesman for the city said he could not comment.

In their petition to vacate the arbitration award, the union said that the city violated the collective bargaining agreement when it unilaterally rescheduled an initial meeting on Abel’s disciplinary action from Nov. 23 to Dec. 1.

“The lodge maintains it did not mutually agree with this postponement/cancellation,” the FOP wrote in the petition.

It raised the same issue in the original arbitration claim, but the panel found that the objection should be set aside.

“There is no evidence that the city’s action in unilateral postponing was taken in bad faith,” they wrote.

But in its petition to vacate the arbitration award filed in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court on Thursday, the FOP claims the panel exceeded its powers by finding that the meeting cancelation was made in “good faith.”

Further the police union attorneys wrote that the rescheduled date was outside of the 14 days stipulated to by the parties in the collective bargaining agreement.

“If the city does not comply with any of the time limits specified above, the disciplinary action shall be rescinded, and the grievance granted with the officer being made whole,” the CBA reads.

To have extended the date, the FOP argues, it had to be done in writing and by mutual agreement.

“The award must be vacated and the grievance sustained, resulting in Officer Abel’s reinstatement to employment with the city and receipt of his requested ‘make whole’ remedy.”