Correction: A previous version of this story, citing incomplete records, said Miller would be paid only $220K in damages. In fact, the city was actually ordered to pay $480,000.
A federal jury has ordered that Ithaca pay former Officer Chris Miller $480,000 after finding that the city had retaliated against him.
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Here’s a part of the verdict, which was released today:
See related: How much will Officer Miller’s victory cost the city of Ithaca?
Mayor Svante Myrick released the following statement following the announcement:
Today, a federal jury returned an astonishingly-inappropriate verdict totaling $480,001 against the City and its officials on two claims of retaliation asserted by former IPD Officer Christopher Miller.
Miller was terminated in 2013 by an arbitrator who concluded that he “was employed as a police officer living a lie of having got the job under false pretenses”.
Highlighting the absurdity of this verdict is a $220,000 award to Miller for the supposed indignity of having been assigned to walk the Ithaca Commons beat for thirteen shifts, each scheduled and fully paid, now with a jury-prescribed bonus of nearly $17,000 per shift worked.
The City will press forward with post-trial motions seeking to throw out this unjust verdict, and will review its options for appeal.