This officer was first publicly outed as a bad cop on the Hall of Shame in 1998. See the Misogyny page for a write-up of Doroteo Hernandez’s past misconduct. Kudos to the Austin American Statesman for pursuing their reporting beyond the surface level on this important issue.

Accused officer was fired in '97

By Jonathan Osborne

American-Statesman Staff

Saturday, August 25, 2001

An Austin police officer accused by colleagues of beating a handcuffed prisoner last week was fired in 1997 after his arrests on charges of domestic violence and violating a protective order.

But after appealing his firing, officer Doroteo "Ted" Hernandez was back in uniform six months later, and the criminal charges against him were dropped.

According to disciplinary records obtained Friday, the civil service arbitrator who gave Hernandez his job back ordered the officer to seek counseling, visit a department psychologist and stay out of trouble.

Now, the six-year veteran faces accusations from other officers that he repeatedly struck a handcuffed but combative Fernando Rosales while trying to force the 28-year-old drunken driving suspect into the back seat of a patrol car on Aug. 17.

Rosales, who is from Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, was taken to Brackenridge Hospital with head and facial wounds that morning and was later moved to the Travis County Jail.

On Thursday, police turned over results of their own criminal investigation of Hernandez's actions to the Travis County district attorney's office. A separate internal investigation is continuing, and until it is completed, Hernandez and two other officers at the scene, Danny Johnson and Lt. Tom Owens, will remain on restricted duty.

Hernandez's lawyers, Gregory Zaney and Jamie Balagia, said the 40-year-old's past is irrelevant to the Aug. 17 incident.

"I guess they're going to allege that every four or five years, he's going to go off and do something crazy," Balagia said. "That just doesn't make sense."

Balagia said Rosales had already fought several officers by the time Hernandez, who is part of a roving drunken driving unit, showed up.

Zaney said the prisoner, whose feet were also bound, head-butted Hernandez while struggling with the officers.

"He was still a danger and combative," Zaney said.

"We train our officers to use force to protect themselves, to protect a citizen and to make the arrest," Assistant Police Chief Mike McDonald said. "But it's not appropriate to use force to punish anyone."

A patrol officer since 1995, Hernandez worked both in Southeast Austin and Central East Austin before joining the DWI team.

He has received nine commendations in his career, three of which came from outside the department.

According to the disciplinary records, San Marcos police arrested Hernandez at his home in January 1996 after receiving reports of a domestic dispute. Hernandez was charged with assault and family violence with bodily injury.

Austin's police chief at the time, Elizabeth Watson, placed Hernandez on temporary suspension.

After Hernandez was arrested again in October 1996 on charges of repeatedly violating his now ex-wife's restraining order against him, Watson fired him, writing in a termination memo, "The arrest on these charges, especially in light of Officer Hernandez' prior arrest in Hays County, and his repeated violations of the protective order, brought discredit to the Austin Police Department and to Officer Hernandez."

Hernandez appealed to an arbitrator who, according to the records, ordered the officer reinstated on Aug. 20, 1997.

The criminal charges against Hernandez were dismissed, according to court records.

While uncommon, it's not unheard-of for terminated officers to get their jobs back. Since 1998, 13 officers have been fired, and four have been reinstated.

McDonald said Friday that the department disagreed with the arbitrator's decision in Hernandez's case.

"We don't terminate an officer unless we feel that individual should not be an officer," he said.