The following is a press release from the City of Jordan:

In September 2006, the City of Jordan investigated a complaint lodged against then Jordan Police Officer Corey Pudwill.  The internal investigation determined that Mr. Pudwill had committed a number of serious Jordan Police Department policy violations and the City terminated him for these policy violations.   The police union, LELS, grieved the termination.  Mr. Pudwill was criminally charged and acquitted in November 2008 on allegations arising from the same incident that led to his termination.  The arbitration hearing occurred in March 2009, but that arbitrator died before rendering his opinion.  A second arbitration hearing occurred in September of this year before Arbitrator Jim Lundberg.  Arbitrator Lundberg just filed his decision, which upholds the City’s termination of Mr. Pudwill.

The City terminated Mr. Pudwill for his failure to follow Department procedures when he stopped a vehicle on Highway 169 after observing poor driving behavior.  The Arbitrator held that Mr. Pudwill intentionally failed to contact Scott County dispatchers about the traffic stop as required by Department procedure, and he intentionally failed to record the traffic stop on his written log as required by Department policy.  Mr. Pudwill testified to the Arbitrator that “as far as he was concerned, the stop never happened.”  Finally, committing what the Arbitrator termed “serious misconduct,” Pudwill allowed the driver to continue driving the 30 minutes home despite knowing that the driver only had a learner’s permit and there was no licensed driver was in the vehicle.  Arbitrator Lundberg held that Mr. Pudwill “intentionally concealed the fact that he allowed an unlicensed driver with poor driving skills” to drive away.   The Arbitrator wrote, “The [release of the unlicensed driver] was incompetent, irresponsible and dangerous to the public, including the unlicensed driver,” and called Mr. Pudwill’s misconduct “egregious.”