Fired officer likely to return to D.M. police force

A Des Moines police officer who was fired last summer is expected to be reinstated by the end of the month, according to Des Moines Human Resources Director James Wells.

Members of the city's Civil Service Commission voiced support Tuesday to reinstate Senior Police Officer Cody Grimes.

The city fired Grimes after he was arrested on Dec. 27, 2013, and charged with domestic assault causing injury and fourth-degree criminal mischief. He ultimately pleaded guilty to criminal mischief and prosecutors dropped the domestic abuse charge.

Grimes will return to his position as a senior police officer, with a salary of $73,195, pending a formal vote by the commission in two weeks, Wells said.

Commission members determined termination was an excessive action, but they said that as a disciplinary measure Grimes should not receive back pay since his firing in June.

Deputy City Attorney Carol Moser, who oversees the Civil Service Commission, said the roughly six months without pay would be the equivalent of a long-term suspension.

Grimes' attorney for the appeal hearing Mark Hedberg said Wednesday that the victim who prompted the domestic abuse charge had no evidence and a history of false allegations against police officers. Hedberg said he emphasized this point at the Civil Service Commission hearing.

"The only thing that was true is he threw her Christmas tree and ornaments and it hit her car and made a scratch," Hedberg said.

The Christmas tree dispute unfolded in the early morning hours after the victim let herself into Grimes' apartment with a spare key and woke him, Hedberg said.

The December 2013 legal trouble was not the first for Grimes since he joined the police force nearly seven years earlier.

In 2010, he fired a shot at a KCCI-TV photojournalist who he mistook for a suspect while responding to reports of gunfire at the station's studios. The journalist was not hit in the incident. Grimes was placed on paid leave and returned to work two weeks later.

Last year, federal courts reached a $75,000 judgment against Grimes and the city of Des Moines in an excessive force incident.

John Twombly of Des Moines accused Grimes of punching him multiple times while he was restrained and on the ground at his own wedding reception in 2011. The incident left Twombly with broken bones in his face.

Twombly's attorney Brandon Brown said Wednesday that his case against Grimes is resolved, but he has concerns about the officer returning to the streets.

"I'm concerned that the city is reinstating an officer who has clear propensities for unreasonable violence. It's been demonstrated in court through third-party witness accounts," Brown said.

Hedberg said Grimes' appeal hearing and firing had nothing to do with incidents prior to December 2013. He referred to the officer as "a standup guy."

"I'm a resident of Des Moines and I have no problem with him being on the police force," said Hedberg, the retained attorney for the Des Moines Police Bargaining Unit. "People make mistakes."