Officer Who Shot in Air Won’t Be Rehired : He Lost Job When He and Colleagues Fired From Roof After Drinking

Paul Coulter, who was fired from the Santa Ana Police Department after admitting that he took part in an off-duty June incident during which five officers shot their guns into the air, on Wednesday lost his effort to win back his job.

The Santa Ana Personnel Board, which deadlocked 3 to 3 last week in a preliminary vote on Coulter’s appeal of his termination, took official action Wednesday and voted, 5 to 1, to uphold Deputy Police Chief Eugene Hansen’s decision to fire Coulter. The vote came after city officials failed to reach a compromise with Coulter, who had sought a 90-day suspension instead of termination.

Had Coulter been reinstated, he would have been allowed to return to work today. Since he was fired in August, he would have been due back pay amounting to more than $5,000.

Coulter declined to comment after the decision, but his attorney, Malcolm M. Guleserian, said he believes that the Personnel Board members had gotten “a lot of political heat” from the City Council. At recent council meetings, residents renewed complaints about gunfire by private citizens last New Year’s Eve, he said.

“We’re going to give it up. He doesn’t want to go any further,” Guleserian said, adding that Coulter intends to try to join another police force. “He’ll be a police officer again. He’s seeking employment right away.”

Coulter and six other officers went to the roof of the Orange County Transit District parking structure early last June 18 after a night of drinking in a Tustin bar. While they drank beer on the rooftop, four officers fired their guns in the direction of the adjacent county building, and two bullets struck the offices of an aide to Supervisor Roger R. Stanton.

Coulter, who admitted being drunk, said he fired his gun once in the air only after being taunted by the other officers. He testified that he didn’t participate in an alleged cover-up of the incident.

During the city’s investigation, Deputy City Atty. Terrence Grace offered the officer a 90-day suspension if he would testify against the others. Coulter told board members that he planned to accept the offer but that it was withdrawn the day after it was offered when two other officers went to investigators and provided details of the incident.

Guleserian argued that Grace shouldn’t have withdrawn the offer. Grace said he never put any time limit on the offer and consulted with other city officials before deciding to call it off.

Guleserian said two officers who were involved in the incident but didn’t fire their weapons that night were given 30- and 60-day suspensions. Of the five who did shoot, two resigned and three were fired. Coulter is the only one who has gone through with an appeal to the Personnel Board.

Grace’s withdrawing of the offer of the suspension for Coulter’s testimony is a key point, Guleserian said.

The only board member voting to reinstate Coulter, Frederick Clark, agreed: “Primarily, I felt there was an oral contract made to Mr. Coulter that was binding.”

Grace said the city had attempted to reach a compromise with Coulter but no agreement was reached. He declined to reveal details.

Guleserian said the compromise offered by the city was that Coulter would still be fired but that his files would be sealed.

“He wouldn’t be able to get a job anywhere,” Guleserian said, noting that employers would need to obtain information from the files when considering Coulter’s application.