Part of ex-officer’s suit against city allowed to move forward

BARSTOW — A federal judge dismissed some of the allegations in a lawsuit brought against the City of Barstow by a former Barstow Police Department officer, while allowing others to go forward.

United States District Judge Virginia A. Phillips struck down a claim that former officer Peter Holm was wrongfully terminated and dismissed one of his claims that the city retaliated against him for acting as a whistleblower by reporting what he believed to be misconduct by his superiors.

But the judge did not dismiss an allegation that the department violated Holm’s First Amendment right to free speech, and she upheld a second claim that the department retaliated against him for whistleblowing, under a different section of the law. Those allegations can go forward, either to a jury trial or to a possible out-of-court settlement. A trial scheduling conference is scheduled for Sept. 29.

Holm, who worked as a police officer in Barstow from June 2001 to April 2007, quit after an incident in which he claimed superiors pressured him to alter a traffic collision report that put then-Chief Caleb L. Gibson’s son-in-law at fault. After Holm refused to change the report, now-retired Lt. Rudy Alcantara and Sgt. Keith Libby, who is still employed as a detective for the department, prepared their own supplemental report putting the other driver at fault, according to the order issued by Phillips Tuesday. Holm filed an internal complaint with the city in March 2007.

Holm’s suit alleged that the defendants retaliated against him for protesting the altered traffic report by making threats, forcing him to leave a briefing session, and denying him choice assignments, ultimately leading him to resign in April 2007.

He filed a complaint in the San Bernardino County Superior Court in February, but it was removed to the federal court by the defendants’ request. Alcantara, Gibson, and Libby are named individually as defendants, along with the city.

Art Meneses, an attorney for the defendants, said that the parties have been authorized to mediate the case, but called an out-of-court settlement unlikely.

“The odds of convening that conference and resolving the case between now and the 29th of September are probably not great, but I guess it’s possible,” he said.

Holm declined to comment, citing the advice of his attorney. His attorney did not return a call for comment.

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