Brian Miller, one of the Florida sheriff's deputies fired for how he responded to the 2018 Stoneman Douglas High School shooting, is being reinstated.
CNNreported Friday that Miller—who was fired in June 2019—would be reinstated with back pay and a retainment of his previous seniority. The Broward Sheriff's Union had argued that the department had violated a 180-day termination notification clause, with Miller having been fired two days after the period ended.
Per the report, the arbitrator ultimately agreed with the union's argument of a clause violation, granting their motion for summary judgment. This means Miller will be reinstated, retain his seniority, and be entitled to back pay.
"The arbitrator ruled on the case without conducting any evidentiary hearing whatsoever and without taking the testimony of a single witness," a rep for the General Council for the Broward County Sheriff's Office said in a statement. "The decision was based upon a technicality that we believe was wrongly decided."
Speaking with WPLG, Max Schachter—whose son Alex was among the 17 people killed in the 2018 shooting—echoed the department's disapproval of the decision.
"He was a coward," Schachter said of Miller.
A previous Marjory Stoneman Douglas Commission report had found that Miller arrived on the scene while the shooting was still in progress. Once on the scene, per that report, Miller is said to have gone behind his vehicle to put on a ballistic vest. His first radio transmission regarding the shooting did not occur until roughly five minutes after first arriving, with no evidence cited that he had "effectively directed resources," nor had he directed other officers toward the gunfire.
