By Dave Birkland Seattle Times staff reporter
The reinstatement of a King County sheriff's deputy who was fired after the 1999 World Trade Organization riots was upheld yesterday by King County Superior Court Judge Suzanne Barnett.
The judge determined that the county, in arguing an appeal of Deputy John Vanderwalker's reinstatement, failed to show that an arbitrator's decision to give him his job back was arbitrary and capricious.
Don Porter, a senior deputy prosecutor with the King County Prosecutor's Office who argued for the appeal, said the deputy's original reinstatement generated an outcry from the public, with citizens asking: "If you can't fire John Vanderwalker, who can you fire?"
Sheriff Dave Reichert was disappointed by the ruling, but said he will live with it.
"The process has run its course and we will abide by the court's decision," he said in a statement.
Vanderwalker's case garnered local attention because he was videotaped by TV news crews pepper-spraying two women in a car during the WTO riots. He also was filmed kicking a woman who was carrying a first-aid kit.
The county paid the two women $100,000 to settle the federal lawsuit they filed.
Reichert fired Vanderwalker, a 19-year veteran, several months after the riots, maintaining that Vanderwalker used excessive force in both cases, then lied to cover up the kicking incident. Vanderwalker said he could not remember kicking anyone.
Vanderwalker appealed the firing through the King County Police Officers Guild, which sent the case to an arbitrator, Michael de Grasse, a Walla Walla labor attorney.
In May, de Grasse ruled that Vanderwalker should be reinstated with a 10-day suspension. The sheriff's investigation did not prove Vanderwalker lied about his actions, which the sheriff alleged, de Grasse said at the time.
When he was reinstated, Vanderwalker was returned to his duties as a patrol officer in the Maple Valley area.
In her ruling yesterday, Barnett noted that the selection of de Grasse had been agreed to beforehand by both sides.
The fact that Vanderwalker's was a high-profile case because his actions were broadcast on television did not change the legal standard required to overturn a labor arbitrator's decision, she also ruled.