Opinion ID: 3004567
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Meeting with Clarke and Bailey

Text: Graber, Clarke, and Bailey met later that day; each had a different account of what transpired during the meeting. No. 13‐2165 7 According to Graber, the meeting lasted about two hours and consisted of Clarke going on an aggressive tirade in an effort to “bully” and “intimidate” him. Clarke’s profanity‐ridden rant included yelling, pointing, and calling Graber “waste,” an “organizational terrorist,” a “fucker,” and a “cancer to the agency.” Graber said Clarke got close to his face and yelled, “I’ve got a dead child at the lakefront and you’re questioning mandatory overtime? You sick fuck, you.” Clarke told Graber that he had been hearing Graber’s name too much and that Graber needed to take union matters to Inspector Carr. Clarke said if he heard Graber’s name again, he would “come after” him. Graber said Clarke made him feel “intimidated, fearful, and scared.” Clarke’s version of the meeting was that he never used profanity towards Graber directly, but he did tell Graber that he was being “insubordinate” and “interfering with [the] command staff’s carrying out of [Clarke’s] orders.” Clarke admitted to using profanities in general and telling Graber to take union matters to Inspector Carr, but denied ever threaten‐ ing to “come after” Graber. Clarke also admitted to calling Graber an “organizational terrorist,” but said he used the term in the context of Graber being self‐centered in the middle of an emergency. Clarke asserted that Graber was the first to bring up the union issue. He told Graber that he could file a grievance if he had concerns involving the union, but he needed to stay out of the command staff’s way. According to Bailey, Clarke was “very direct” when he confronted Graber about “blocking the allocation of resources to O’Donnell Park,” but Clarke never yelled, pointed, or used “unending profanities and vulgarities.” Bailey said Graber 8 No. 13‐2165 was the first to bring up unions, but that it was “in deflection” to Clarke’s comments about command issues. When Clarke brought up the “dead child at the lakefront,” Bailey said Graber expressed no concern for the victims of the accident. At this point, Bailey said the meeting turned into an “argumenta‐ tive,” “intense,” and “heated” conversation. Bailey confirmed that Clarke told Graber to take union matters to Inspector Carr and that if Graber had issues, he could “file all the grievances [he] want[s].” Bailey further testified that whenever Graber pressed the union issue, Clarke would tell him that the problem was not about unions but rather about the emergency at O’Donnell Park and obeying direct orders. Bailey said Clarke did most of the talking and that the meeting ended when Clarke told Graber he was free to leave.