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WEST VALLEY CITY — A settlement between once-fired police detective Shaun Cowley and West Valley City has been reached, but the war of words continued Monday.
Cowley announced late Sunday that West Valley City had agreed to pay his back wages plus benefits, and he agreed to resign from the West Valley Police Department immediately upon payment.
But despite reaching an apparent amicable resolution on Sunday, there was no love lost between West Valley City officials and Cowley and his attorney Lindsay Jarvis on Monday as each held press conferences to add their parting comments.
"Mr. Cowley is not, in any sense of the word, vindicated or a scapegoat. All the same problems that existed with Mr. Cowley from the beginning of this investigation still exist today. Drugs and money were missing and continue to be missing," said West Valley City Manager Wayne Pyle, who added that the city was "pleased" to announce his resignation.
Jarvis called the city's press conference "very unprofessional and quite distasteful" and called her own press conference with Cowley while the one being held by Pyle and West Valley Police Chief Lee Russo was still going on.
"I think West Valley needs to look internally as to where the drugs and the money are. Quite frankly, had we had the hearing, we would have proved that West Valley's evidence department and (the former head of the disbanded Neighborhood Narcotics Unit) are responsible for the missing drugs and money. It's not an accident that they misplaced paperwork. I guess the question for the media to ask themselves is whether or not they found this paperwork in order to avoid the hearing," Jarvis said.
For the first time in 2 ½ years, I am at peace with this situation.
–Shaun Cowley
Cowley's resignation came just two days after he was reinstated as a West Valley police officer once the city decided not to fight the appeal over his firing. Cowley did not work an actual shift after his return.
The ongoing saga between Cowley and the city began with the fatal shooting of 21-year-old Danielle Willard during an undercover drug operation in 2012. The Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office determined the shooting was not justified and then charged Cowley with criminal manslaughter. However, the charge was dismissed by a judge during a preliminary hearing last October.
West Valley City fired Cowley from the police force after its Neighborhood Narcotics Unit was disbanded because of officer wrongdoing that included misplaced or mishandled drugs and money, keeping "trophies" from investigations, improper use of confidential informants and using GPS tracking on vehicles without a warrant.
But Cowley and Jarvis challenged the firing, saying Cowley was only doing what his superiors had taught him. They demanded that West Valley officials show in writing which policies and procedures Cowley violated to warrant termination. On Friday, when Jarvis said West Valley administrators couldn't produce the manual, the city dropped its fight against Cowley's effort to get his job back and he was reinstated.
On Monday, Pyle said that the manual does exist as do the papers Cowley signed acknowledging certain types of training he had received. However, he said the city made the mistake of not meeting a judge's deadline in submitting those papers to the court.
"Those documents do exist. However, there were some issues in terms of properly producing them. We are still unsure exactly what happened to those and we continue to look into the cause of this," Pyle said. "Our case was undermined by a technicality — a procedural issue which we own and we take a responsibility for."
Jarvis, however, believes the city was simply trying to avoid going to court where all of the police department's "skeletons in the closet would have been exposed."
"This is not a technicality at all. The Constitution is not a technicality. Due process is not a technicality," she said. "At the end of the day, this was not a technicality. This was a willful withholding of evidence. It's part of a master plan to avoid civil liability.
"This is not a Shaun Cowley problem. This is West Valley City actively trying to destroy evidence in an effort to make Shaun look like the bad guy."
After the city stopped its appeal last week that Cowley was wrongfully terminated in September of 2013, he was eligible to receive all his paychecks that he didn't receive during that time. But Jarvis argued that her client was also entitled to lost benefits during that time, which amounted to about $127,000 total.
The two sides were expected to argue in West Valley Justice Court on Monday whether Cowley should be paid the extra money. The settlement was announced late Sunday.
This is not a technicality at all. The Constitution is not a technicality. Due process is not a technicality. At the end of the day, this was not a technicality. This was a willful withholding of evidence. It's part of a master plan to avoid civil liability.
–Cowley's attorney, Lindsay Jarvis
If Cowley's case had gone to trial, Jarvis said, she would have been able to bring up all prior disciplinary actions raised against West Valley police officers.
But Pyle does not believe the book on Cowley is completely closed as far as the city's involvement with him is concerned.
"Despite Mr. Cowley's assertions that his efforts here are about exoneration and his innocence, and that he is satisfied he will be able to move on with his life and his career, we believe this will likely not be the end of this story. This story for Mr. Cowley is about money, pure and simple at this point," Pyle said.
He expects a civil rights lawsuit will now be filed against West Valley City, which Pyle called "incomprehensible to us given his actions."
When asked whether he intends to file a civil lawsuit, Cowley on Monday responded, "We'll see." He later added, "How can you put a price on what has been done to my reputation?"
Cowley had few words to say on Monday standing next to his attorney, who also advised him not to answer some questions. Cowley said he wanted to be the "bigger man" and not perpetuate the back-and-forth allegations with the city.
"Time to move on with my life. And West Valley is not the place I want to work anymore," he said.
When asked what message he had, Cowley said over the past couple of years, "My message is always misconstrued, so I'll keep mouth shut.
"I just want to lay low and go on with my life," he said.
Both Cowley and Jarvis said they had received numerous death threats over the past two years, especially after his manslaughter case was dismissed.
"I’ve become a villain in the eyes of the public," Cowley said. "But I’ve always had the truth on my side. I became a scapegoat for a police department faced with allegations of corruption, and a tool in a re-election campaign. What happened here is wrong. I’m so grateful it’s over. The next step in my career is undecided, but it will be a choice I make — not one I’m forced to make.”
