Huckleberries Online

Fired Cop Sues City

Posted by Cindy

Dec. 23, 2009 4:12 p.m. • 26 comments

Bradley Thoma sends his Christmas greetings to the city of Spokane by filing a $4 million damage claim.

“The claim, filed earlier today, contends the city illegally failed to accommodate Thoma’s disability - alcoholism.” More here.

Really? A drunk cop is involved in a hit-and-run, and it’s the city’s fault. Really?

26 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

Cindy_H on December 23 at 4:20 p.m.
And. I wish I knew how to make this photo smaller!
Sisyphus on December 23 at 4:22 p.m.
Yeah, he’s drilling holes into the back of my head.
Cabbage Boy on December 23 at 4:23 p.m.
Cindy,
hold down the control key and scroll your mouse scroll button towards you.
:)
Cindy_H on December 23 at 4:25 p.m.
Ack! Now everything is tiny. CB fix it!!!
Cabbage Boy on December 23 at 4:29 p.m.
:) scroll the other way.
Cindy_H on December 23 at 4:31 p.m.
But now my font stayed funny :-(
Too light, too small.
You broke my blog!
Still that’s a handy trick to have. Guess I’ll keep you around.
Fixer on December 23 at 4:44 p.m.
Cindy, if you could Photoshop in a parrot and an eye patch, you’d have a pretty accurate picture of the situation.
Cindy_H on December 23 at 4:46 p.m.
Like I could figure out Photoshop :-)
I’m giving myself an eye exam. Is this one better– or this one?
How about now?
Having way too much fun making the blog go BIG and small.
LarrySpencer on December 23 at 4:49 p.m.
Cindy, put down the eggnog! I think you have had enough!
OrangeTV on December 23 at 5:04 p.m.
I feel like I’m lost in the forest that is his eyebrow and I’m tempted to take a little dip in one of his massive pores.

Cindy, Google is your friend! Look up Irfanview, it is free, very easy to use photo editing software that will enable you to resize any photo without losing your mind. Or (and this is just a touch more complex, but not by much) look up how to resize the photo using basic html. I have much confidence in you that you can learn it. It will come in very handy for future reference and won’t you feel so accomplished, having learned a new trick or two?

Or not. I kinda like looking at the massive supernovas embedded in his sky-big blue eyes.
Cindy_H on December 23 at 5:13 p.m.
OTV: I kinda think the SR photo folks wouldn’t take kindly to my dabbling in the world of photo editing. But… really couldn’t they resize this photo.
I mean. It’s not my job.
Just saying ;-)
BethB on December 23 at 5:27 p.m.
I come to this entry for an intelligent conversation on the lawsuit itself - and look what I find!! Though all the comments made me laugh. Sis’ is maybe the best.
Cindy_H on December 23 at 5:29 p.m.
Beth, please!
I beg you. Start the intelligent conversation. Somebody’s got to!
BethB on December 23 at 5:34 p.m.
Mmmmm…. I would, but I’m more comfortable observing this one, at least right now. I might chime in once it gets started though.
LarrySpencer on December 23 at 5:35 p.m.
Cindy, can’t we just have one thread that is so absurd we can all agree that we don’t have to talk about it?

I would ask who is going to defend the cop, but then the fun would be ruined and Phaedrus would show up.
LarrySpencer on December 23 at 5:36 p.m.
And his eggnog went bad long ago!

:-)
Fixer on December 23 at 5:37 p.m.
Beth, I would argue that my comment was at least an oblique reference to the topic…

…having said that, that guy Thoma is HUGE.
spokelooneh on December 23 at 5:46 p.m.
You watch, he’s gonna get a full bore medical retirement because of alcoholism and at least $50-60k a year medical pension.
LarrySpencer on December 23 at 5:57 p.m.
$50 or 60K?!!!!!!

What kind of problem costs that much to supply? Does the guy only drink single malt scotch?

wait…. I think I read that wrong up there….You wrote pension, not stipend, right?

/wonders how much scotch a person can by with $50k…
BethB on December 23 at 6:01 p.m.
Fixer! Absolutely. I forgot about your comment.
BethB on December 23 at 6:01 p.m.
I was too busy laughing.
elcee1987 on December 23 at 9:22 p.m.
I am laughing over here, all of these resizing comments made me chuckle and momentarily forget that we have a large-headed idiot among us! Sheesh. I can’t believe he sued the city because HE broke the law. This all could have been avoided if he had been fired for breaking the law, not because of the lack of a breathalyzer in a cop car.
Phaedrus on December 23 at 10:01 p.m.
he got fired yesterday and filed a lawsuit today? Jeez!

if’n I knowed being a drunk was a $4 million disability I wouldn’t have quit drinking!
Phaedrus on December 23 at 10:08 p.m.
“The fact that you may be an alcoholic does not absolve you of responsibility for your conduct.”—Kirkpatrick

Amen!
spokelooneh on December 23 at 11:08 p.m.
Told ya this chump was gonna file a lawsuit.
JamesBond on December 24 at 8:56 a.m.
This appears to involve a serious misunderstanding of the ADA. It is perfectly fine to fire someone for getting a DUI. The ADA does not protect behavior, such as getting a DUI, showing up to work drunk, etc. Why termination did not occur when it was determined that he was intoxicated while driving is beyond me.

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D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.