City police officer who was terminated from her employment following incident in which she drove while intoxicated, crashed into a parked vehicle, and fled the scene of the accident sought review of city police department’s termination decision. The City Civil Service Commission Orleans, No. 8047, overturned police department’s termination decision and ordered officer’s employment reinstated, based upon department’s alleged failure to complete its administrative investigation within the statutory time limit. Police Department appealed.
The Court of Appeal held that sixty-day limitations period for appointing authority to complete its administrative disciplinary investigation into city police officer’s misconduct was tolled during pendency of criminal investigation into officer’s conduct, and thus, 60-day limitations period for administrative investigation did not begin to run until officer criminal proceedings against officer were completed when officer received a nolle prosequi from traffic court.