A Myrtle Seaside Cop Says He was Fired As a result of He Filed a Employee’s Compensation Declare

By Last updated Apr 8, 2021

The officer claims he was fired after filing the worker’s damages lawsuit.

SOUTH CAROLINA – A former Myrtle Beach police officer claims he was fired for filing a claim for damages after being injured in the workplace.

Michael Dodd has filed a lawsuit against the City of Myrtle Beach alleging he was wrongly dismissed from his job with the Myrtle Beach Police Department.

Dodd was hired as a patrol officer in the department in September 2016, according to the lawsuit. A Facebook post from the Myrtle Beach Police Department shows Dodd taking his oath of office in February 2017.

About a year and a half into the job, Dodd was promoted and received a raise based on his performance.

In October 2018, Dodd was operated on on his back. About two months after the operation, Dodd got into an argument with a suspect and was injured while at work. According to the lawsuit, the fight was filed by the police as an incident of violence.

As a result of his injury, Dodd was unable to work more than five months and filed an employee claim for damages, the lawsuit said.

His employer “refused to help (Dodd) in any way and brushed his injury and incident under the carpet,” according to the lawsuit filed in Horry County court last week.

Myrtle Beach City spokesmen and police said they have no comment on any pending litigation.

A little over a year later, Dodd was involved in an argument with a colleague.

In March 2020, when Dodd was attending a shift meeting in the Myrtle Beach Police Department annex, he jokingly passed an NYPD training booklet to a colleague, “as if to say to get back to training,” it said Legal action. The second officer picked up the exercise book, tossed it to Dodd, and slapped him in the face. Dodd responded by pushing the other officer, who fell on a table.

The incident lasted about 10 seconds and ended when the officers were broken apart by two other officers, according to a complaint. The other officer was not injured.

Dodd worked with “a close-knit group of men who liked to joke,” the lawsuit said during her 12-hour night patrol shift.

That day the other officer stated that he did not want to slap Dodd in the face and aimed at his chest, “but did not mean it aggressively”. The two resolved the problem and worked the rest of their shift that night without any problems, the lawsuit said.

Dodd was transferred to administrative duty while the police were conducting an internal investigation into the incident.

During the course of the investigation, officials who had worked with Dodd, including the officer involved in the incident, said they viewed Dodd as the leader of the shift and, according to the lawsuit, viewed the scuffle as an isolated incident. Dodd’s body camera footage was reviewed and he was told by a supervisor that he was commended for handling violence situations and for speaking to people according to the lawsuit.

The investigation concluded that Dodd should be suspended for the incident. The other officer was not disciplined.

Dodd was terminated in April 2020 under the lawsuit. Dodd accuses police of firing him rather than suspending him for filing a claim for damages from a worker.

It took Dodd more than seven months to find another job, and one with significantly less income, the lawsuit said.

In the lawsuit, Dodd is demanding an undisclosed amount of money “equal to his lost wages and benefits and future lost wages and benefits”.

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