A Warren police officer who was fired for cutting a woman�s hair weave while restrained in a chair inside the Police Department�s lockup has won back her job. Almost a year to the day that Bernadette Najor was terminated, an arbitrator has ruled the 10-year veteran of the force be reinstated with full back pay, fringe benefits and seniority. �The arbitrator clearly indicated (the police administration) did not have just cause to terminate her and the arbitrator determined she did not violate any of the terms and conditions of the (employment) contract,� said attorney Peter Sudnick, who represented the Warren Police Officers Association and Najor in challenging the firing by Police Commissioner Jere Green. �It was a pretty clean case. She was completely exonerated,� Sudnick said. Green did not return telephone and email messages seeking comment for this report. Howard Shifman, an outside lawyer hired by city officials for labor matters, also could not be immediately reached.
The woman with the weave, Charda Gregory, was arrested by Warren police on Nov. 13, 2013, on suspicion of vandalism at the Suez Motel on Eight Mile Road. Police pepper-sprayed her after she kicked the window of a patrol car after officers took her into custody. Later at the police station, Gregory had difficulty standing inside the jail area. Police Department video of the detention area shows Najor pushing Gregory against a wall. Officers then strapped her into a chair. Najor yanked Gregory�s head back and spent 3 minutes cutting out the weave as Gregory, 22, writhed in the chair. The police video system does not have audio. The other officers who witnessed the hair-cutting filed use-of-force required reports and submitted them to a commander. Najor was suspended with pay two days later, and the department�s Internal Affairs Division and Green reviewed the video. Afterward, Green said there was no need for Gregory�s hair to be cut, especially after she was bound to the chair.
�The video clearly shows she�s intoxicated. Unless I�m blind, I don�t see where she�s offering any resistance whatsoever,� the city�s top-ranking police official said at the time. As officials probed the incident, Najor offered an explanation. �Bernadette claims that she removed the sewn-in weaves because it could be used as an instrument to harm herself or damage property in the jail,� Green said. The commissioner fired Najor on Dec. 12, 2013, saying she used unnecessary or excessive force. The Warren Police Officers Association subsequently challenged Najor�s firing. The Police Department did not have a written policy about removing hair weaves. At an arbitration hearing in July, Najor testified she had been told by supervisors anything not permanently attached to prisoners must be removed � including false teeth, glasses, artificial limbs, wigs, belts, shoelaces or anything that can be sued as a weapon. Najor testified she had previously removed hair weaves that were not permanently attached to suspects held in the police lockup.
�The grievant (Najor) testified that she had heard the prisoner make remarks about suicide, and even though she didn�t think the prisoner was serious, she decided to take the precautionary action of removing the weave to make sure that the prisoner did not use the weave to hurt herself or others,� arbitrator Nora Lynch wrote in a 26-page ruling. Najor said Gregory�s weave was not permanently attached or glued, but was loosely tied in with loops. She said she asked Gregory to remove the weave but the arrested woman refused. Najor, according to testimony in the case, asked a fellow officer to get scissors. Gregory struggled and �threw an arm� at Najor, so the female officer asked another officer to get the �restraint chair� which secures a prisoner with cuffs on the arms and legs. Najor claimed that as Gregory struggled and pulled away, she tilted the woman�s head while cutting the loops and was careful to not cut the woman�s own hair while removing the 6-foot-long weave.
Capt. James Matheny, who headed the internal probe, testified that he felt Gregory showed no aggressive behavior. He charged Najor with seven violations of departmental general orders, including: use of unnecessary force or violence; conduct unbecoming an officer; failing to foster public respect and cooperation; and failure to perform in a safe and tactful manner. Green claimed he felt �embarrassed and disturbed� by the incident and that Najor�s handling of Gregory was �demeaning.� Police administrators dubbed Najor�s actions as a �scalping.� But the Warren Police Officers Association claimed police officials overreacted to the video and pinned guilt on Najor in order to mitigate liability and ward off public criticism of the Warren Police Department. In ruling that there was insufficient credible evidence to support the departmental charges against Najor, arbitrator Lynch said the investigation was not fair or objective. �To view the video without the benefit of an audio component and without carefully weighing the accounts of officers who were present does not reflect the reality of what occurred.
The officers, who were interviewed separately, gave consistent accounts, agreeing that the prisoner was combative and resistant and their actions to control her did not involve the use of excessive force,� Lynch said. WPOA President Mike Sauger did not respond to the newspaper�s request for comment on the arbitration ruling. For Gregory�s actions while in the police lockup, detectives sought a warrant charging her with resisting and obstructing police. The Macomb County Prosecutor�s Office reviewed police reports and the video but declined to file any charges for those actions. However, Gregory was charged with a misdemeanor for allegedly ripping a television from the wall of the hotel. She told a Detroit television station that she had gone to a party in Detroit where she suspects someone drugged her. Her attorney, Paul Misukewicz, said she had a couple of drinks and woke up disoriented, unaware of how she got there. He called Najor�s treatment of his client �sadistic� and �demeaning.�
Through Gregory�s attorney, the Warren City Attorney�s Office initiated a settlement in which she was paid $75,000 and the charge of malicious destruction of property against her was dropped. As part of the agreement, the owner of the Suez Motel was reimbursed $1,386 by Warren for the damage Gregory was accused of causing. Misukewicz said the city administration viewed the police lockup video and approached him in an effort to reach an out-of-court accord. Warren agreed to pay $75,000 to Gregory and she agreed to forever release the city, Najor, all other police officers, other city employees and elected officials from any potential claims she may have had. Those include any potential claims for injuries, violation of constitutional and civil rights, wrongful imprisonment, use of excessive force or other police misconduct. According to 37th District Court records, charges of malicious destruction of police property � a felony punishable by up to four years in prison and a $5,000 fine � plus a misdemeanor vandalism charge for the damage at the motel were dismissed Jan. 28, 2014 with the consent of the Macomb County Prosecutor�s Office.