The city of West Linn must pay at least $100,000 in lost wages to a police officer fired last year for racist posts on Facebook because his colleagues knew about his behavior on social media and did nothing to address it until it was reported by the media, an arbitrator ruled last month.

Attorney Eric Lindauer also concluded that city officials were justified in firing Tom Newberry, who later filed a grievance that triggered the arbitration process.

Lindauer found that Newberry's racially biased posts were common knowledge among several high-ranking West Linn police officers, who the arbitrator determined were aware of the type of comments Newberry made on his Facebook page before being placed on leave in July 2016.

The city must award Newberry back pay from his firing date in February 2017 to the ruling date in July 2018. Courtney Flynn, a West Linn spokeswoman, said the city is appealing the ruling.

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WARNING: Contains explicit language.]

The arbitrator reviewed 131 Facebook posts made by Newberry while on and off duty from February 2016 to July 2016; the same posts were reviewed during an internal West Linn police investigation. Lindauer found that a portion of posts showed racial bias against African Americans, hostility toward the Black Lives Matter movement and reinforced public perception that police officers are biased against black people. Some of the posts included references to African Americans and Black Lives Matter supporters as "ghetto rats," "cockroaches," "morons," and other insults.

Though he denies being a racist, Newberry, who is white, once commented that he considered it a "badge of honor" to be called a racist by someone "in the hood," Lindauer wrote. On the day before being placed on leave in July 2016, Newberry posted a story about a potential Black Lives Matter protest and wrote, "So day of target practice?"

Newberry, who admitted that he posted the content, violated the police department's social media policy, which banned speech or expression that damaged the agency's reputation, the opinion said. The department's own rules required Newberry to remove the comments from his Facebook page.

But the arbitrator found that Newberry's immediate supervisor Sgt. Dave Kempas expressed approval of some of Newberry's posts and didn't tell Newberry to delete them. Then-Chief Terry Timeus, Capt. Neil Hennelly and Sgt. Mike Francis "liked" or replied to some of the posts. Although they may not have endorsed Newberry's views, they didn't tell him to stop, the opinion said.

"Therefore, the Department must bear some economic responsibility for its failure to follow its own policies," the opinion said.

Flynn declined to comment on how much money the city was ordered to pay out and whether the city also has to cover his benefits, such as PERS contributions.

Newberry earned an annual salary of $82,480 when he was fired, Flynn said.

At 17 months, that works out to Newberry being owed nearly $116,850 in salary alone.

Timeus, Hennelly and Kempas have all since retired from the West Linn Police Department. Francis has also since left the department and works as an officer with the Portland Police Bureau.

Newberry, 65, spent 16 years as a Portland police officer and was hired by West Linn police in November 2008. He was there for eight years before he was fired after a seven-month internal investigation by Francis and Lt. Mike Stradley. West Linn City Manager Eileen Stein agreed with their recommendation to fire him.

Stein wrote in Newberry's termination notice that his "conduct was inexcusable for a public safety officer whose most important job functions are serving the public's interest and maintaining the public's trust," the opinion said

The Clackamas County Peace Officers' Association, the police union, filed a grievance on Newberry's behalf in March 2017, saying he was fired without cause and should be reinstated. The union contended that Newberry's posts were misinterpreted and protected by the First Amendment. The grievance argued that the city failed to prove the posts were "either racially biased or advocated violence."

When asked by internal investigators to explain himself, Newberry said the posts were "misinterpreted" or "misconstrued" by people biased against police officers, Lindauer wrote in the recent opinion.

Lindauer ultimately disagreed with the arguments made by Newberry and the union. Newberry's posts were "unnecessarily vulgar," "disrespectful" and "significantly undermined the public trust in the police department," Lindauer wrote.

"A fair review of Newberry's postings would lead a reasonable person to conclude that the person making the posts demonstrated a racist ideology," Lindauer wrote.

In the internal investigation interviews, Newberry acknowledged that his posts could be viewed as racist by some people, had negatively impacted the department's reputation and could create a more dangerous work environment for his colleagues, the opinion said. The opinion also said Newberry "showed no regret and was unapologetic and offensive throughout."

-- Everton Bailey Jr.

ebailey@oregonian.com

503-221-8343; @EvertonBailey