A report by the Trentonian newspaper says an attorney representing a former Bucks County Deputy Sheriff has filed an appeal in an effort to gain access to disciplinary records of department staff.
Credit: Tom Sofield/LevittownNow.com
According to the newspaper’s report:
Attorney Gregg Zeff previously requested that a magistrate judge grant him access to disciplinary records of all sheriff’s officers, but that request was denied. Zeff declined to explain why he requested the files because the motion is still pending. But he argues that sheriff’s officers disciplinary records are relevant to his client’s lawsuit against Sheriff Edward Donnelly and the County of Bucks.
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According to court records, former deputy sheriff William Klein of Bristol Township alleges he was fired from his position at the Bucks County Sheriff’s Department as pay back for him testifying in a grand jury hearing. Klein’s testimony reportedly pointed out problems he perceived in the department.
Klein, who was stabbed while serving a warrant in 2010, was officially fired along with two other deputy sheriffs for not reporting an assault on a prisoner. In that case, former deputy sheriff Gary Browndorf was found guilty of attacking Philip Romanek and his girlfriend, Samantha Doneker, while they were serving a warrant in Bristol Township in 2011.
Klein’s lawyer told the Trentonian his client was a “whistleblower” in the department. Court papers note Klein pointed to flaws with department vehicles, weapons and policy. In return, court documents filed on behalf of Klein say he had trouble getting resources to do his job and was moved from the warrant unit to the detention unit, which is the “least desirable unit for a deputy sheriff.”
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Once moved to the detention unit, Klein reported he witnessed an armed deputy sheriff asleep in court guard prisoners and was called a “troublemaker” and blamed for “ratting out a fellow union member.”
Klein started at the Bucks County Sheriff’s Department in 2006.
