Sup Ct Declines To Review First Amendment Protection Of Police Officer's Speech Criticizing High-Speed Chase Policy
Denying certiorari, the United States Supreme Court has let stand a Fifth Circuit decision that a city police officer's speech at the scene of an accident criticizing his police department's high-speed chase policy, and statements he made to various radio talk shows and television news programs on the following day, for which he was subsequently suspended, were made pursuant to his official duties and during the course of performing his job, and thus was not protected against retaliation by the city police department under the First Amendment. The officer first spoke to the media while on duty, in uniform, and while working at the scene of the accident. His statements made the following day to the media were a continuation of the accident scene statements criticizing the police department's policy.
Nixon v. City of Houston, Tex.
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