On Thursday, Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings, rejected a recommendation of an appeals board and fired a deputy that was found responsible for a crash, that took the life of an elderly man last year.
Deputy Malinda Miller was found to be at fault in a crash that killed 91-year-old Edward Soistman, on Magnolia HOmes Road, near Altamonte Springs on August 17, 2010. Florida Highway Patrol cited Miller for failing to use due care–speeding too fast for conditions and not using emergency lights and sirens, while responding to an emergency.
Miller was also found at fault following a review by the Professional Standards Section and faced termination, but appealed.  Last month, the appeals board sided with Miller and recommended that she be suspended and placed on disciplinary probation, instead of being terminated.
Demings, who could have accepted the appeals board recommendation in its entirety, or partially, opted instead to reject it and terminated Miller.
“I respectfully disagree with the recommendations of the Disciplinary Appeal Board and find your appeal of the severity of discipline to be ‘Without Merit’,” Demings wrote in a letter to Miller.
According to Demings’ letter, Miller’s effective termination date is September 16, 2011.
Miller has been given seven days to turn in any “department issued equipment that you may still have in your possession,” Demings’ letter stated.
I guess someone is up for re election and does not want their name tied to this situation, so the best thing to do is ruin a good young persons career so someone can advance their own. I hope the person that made this decision lives with this mistake in judgement the rest of their lives. Maybe someday that person will be judged just as unfairly as she was. How unfare the political BS is today.