BETHEL – Whether former Bethel Police Chief Darren M. Tripp gets his job back is now contingent on his last recourse: an appeal pending in federal court in Boston and one filed Monday in Paris.
A decision from the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston is reportedly imminent in Tripp’s June appeal of a federal court’s October 2004 decision to dismiss his $500,000 lawsuit against the town of Bethel and Town Manager Scott Cole for firing him earlier that year.
The second appeal was filed Monday in Oxford County Superior Court in Paris, regarding last month’s decision by Justice Thomas Delahanty on Tripp’s Sept. 10, 2004, appeal in the Paris court.
Issues in the July 11 appeal “involve aspects of the denial of Tripp’s due process rights affecting the proper review of his termination by Bethel selectmen,” the appeal document states.
Regarding the latest appeals, Rumford attorney Thomas Carey, who is representing Tripp, said Friday afternoon that “these are the final appeals.”
Carey said a final appeal could technically be made to the U.S. Supreme Court, but that his client’s case is not one that falls under such purview.
“We’re not just doing this to waste people’s time. It’s not good to walk away from a case like this. We will see this through to the end, and let the chips fall where they may,” Carey said.
Speaking on behalf of himself and the town, Cole said late Wednesday afternoon that, “We will see this through to the end.”
He declined additional comment.
Tripp was fired by Cole on Feb. 12, 2004. That decision was upheld a month later, on March 11, by a 3-2 Bethel Board of Selectmen vote at a two-day termination hearing.
Reasons cited for the firing included Tripp’s failure to maintain contact with the Oxford County Regional Communications Center in the event of an emergency, and failure to respond from the police station for 12 minutes on Dec. 2, 2003, after repeated attempts by dispatchers to alert him to an armed robbery in Bethel.
Tripp joined the Bethel Police Department in 1989, and he became chief in 1998.
Regarding the federal suit, on Oct. 13, 2004, Chief U.S. District Court Judge George Z. Singal affirmed U.S. Magistrate Judge Margaret J. Kravchuk’s recommendation to dismiss the $500,000 suit and for summary judgment.
Carey appealed that decision in early November to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston. There, Tripp was represented by Portland attorney Steve Chute.
In Delahanty’s 10-page report, the justice denied Tripp’s motion for a trial of the facts, and affirmed Tripp’s March 11, 2004, dismissal by selectmen.
Delahanty wrote that, “There is substantial evidence to justify why the selectmen found as they did. There is no valid reason to have a trial on any further evidence.”
Carey said Friday that he and Tripp disagree.
“We feel we have a legitimate argument, and intend to pursue all avenues until the possibilities are exhausted,” he said.
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