NEW! Judge Restores McNeilly's RankThursday, January 11, 2007 By Paula Reed Ward, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Catherine McNeilly is a police commander again. The woman who was demoted from that senior rank in the Pittsburgh Police Bureau last month was reinstated yesterday after a federal district judge found that Cmdr. McNeilly acted in good faith by going to City Council with her concerns about the nomination of Dennis Regan to the position of public safety director back in October. "The public interest is always served by disclosure of wrongdoing and undue and/or inappropriate influence by public officials in police department matters," said Chief U.S. District Judge Donetta Ambrose in granting Cmdr. McNeilly a preliminary injunction. A demotion for a good faith report of that wrongdoing has a "chilling effect," she continued. Cmdr. McNeilly filed a federal lawsuit Dec. 21 against the city, its police chief and mayor, citing the state's whistleblower law and claiming that her First Amendment rights were violated. Judge Ambrose said in her opinion she felt Cmdr. McNeilly had a reasonable likelihood of succeeding with her lawsuit. In addition to being reinstated to her former position, she is seeking unspecified monetary damages and attorney fees. "The only thing that distinguishes Catherine McNeilly from everyone else is that she had pure and honorable motives," said American Civil Liberties Union attorney Witold Walczak, one of the lawyers who represented her, during his argument to the judge. "Catherine McNeilly was the only person who had the courage to step up." Read more of the Post-Gazette article... Additional information on the case can be found at McNeilly v. City of Pittsburgh. Legal DocumentsPress Releases
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