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Brandishing Gun to Students Leads to Removal--and Then to Federal Court

By Susan Smith

Friday, November 14, 2008

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Susan McGuire Smith spent most of her 26-year federal government career with NASA, first at NASA Headquarters Office of General Counsel and then at Marshall Space Flight Center, serving as Chief Counsel there for more than 14 years. Her expertise is in government contracts, ethics, and personnel law. Ms. Smith has a J.D and a B.A. degree from the George Washington University. Her publications include Practical Ethics for the Federal Employee.

The Air Force's Defense Language Institute at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, fired a training technician as the result of an altercation between him and high school students riding a school bus. The fired employee has failed in his bid to get the Merit Systems Protection Board and now the appeals court to overturn his removal. (Jaramillo v. Department of the Air Force, C.A.F.C. No. 2008-3228 (nonprecedential), 11/6/08) The facts are taken from the court's decision.

Jaramillo's problems began when he was driving while off-duty and was hit in the face by what was apparently a cap from a pen that had been thrown from a school bus. He spotted several students on the bus laughing at him. The students and Jaramillo began shouting and cursing back and forth. Jaramillo ended up following the bus and boarding it--over the driver's objections--to confront the students. When one student admitted throwing the object, Jamarillo went to his truck and pulled out a BB gun that he brandished for the students to see. The students claimed that he had pumped the gun and then drove away. (Opinion, pp. 2-3)

The police were called to the scene to investigate and were separately contacted by Jaramillo once he got home. Eventually Jaramillo was arrested for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. He ended up pleading nolo contendere and was given 2 years probation. (p. 3)

Apparently not very amused, the Air Force removed Jamarillo. He appealed to the Board where an Administrative Judge held a hearing and found that the evidence supported the conclusion that Jamarillo had committed felony assault with a deadly weapon. (p. 4)

The AJ then reviewed the reasonableness of the penalty. Unfortunately for Jamarillo, the AJ found that removal was reasonable under the circumstances that included "Jaramillo's lack of remorse and his poor potential for rehabilitation." (p. 4)

He fared no better with the appeals court. In reaching its decision not to disturb the removal action, the court points to the "remarkably consistent" testimony from several students and the bus driver. The witnesses described a "perturbed Mr. Jaramillo" getting on the bus, confronting the students, and telling them "he had ‘something'" for them in his truck, which turned out to be the gun that students who saw it thought was a rifle or shotgun. (p. 5)

Mr. Jaramillo got his day in court, but it was not a good one. He remains fired.
 

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Readers' Comments

  • I care enough about my kids that I taught them not to throw things out of a vehicle at someone. I taught them to show respect for their elders. I've also taught them that some people have no regard for others. And further, that some people can't resist threatning to take everybody to court over e...
    Posted: November 26, 2008 10:36 AM
  • I killed a rabbit once with a BB gun when I was twelve. (I'm not especially proud of that fact.)...
    Posted: November 25, 2008 9:51 PM
  • continued from above: You did not take into consideration the fear most of the children in that bus must have felt, did you? You did not consider the fact that most of those children probably feared for their lives when they saw this man with a “gun” in his hands approaching the bus. You do kno...
    Posted: November 24, 2008 10:14 AM

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