An appellate court has sided with the city of Edinburg’s former police chief who filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the city, claiming a former city manager fired him for reporting allegations of insurance fraud against an officer to the FBI.
The ruling from the 13th Court of Appeals only means that state District Judge Bobby Flores has the jurisdiction to preside over the lawsuit brought by Cesar Torres on May 5, 2021.
Flores previously sided with Torres on the matter, prompting the city to appeal his ruling.
Former city manager Ron Garza fired Torres, who is now the police chief for the city of Mission, following an adverse ruling against him by a neutral arbiter who determined Torres discriminated against two police officers for their membership and activity in a police union.
That ruling followed a federal lawsuit brought by the Edinburg United Police Officers Association against Torres and the city.
The arbiter’s ruling came down on April 7 and prompted Garza to tell Torres that he could either resign or be fired. Garza offered Torres a severance package and gave him until April 12 to decide.
It should be noted that the officer Torres reported to the FBI is Armando Celedon, a member of the union who opposed one of Torres’ first actions as chief, which was to hire an assistant chief from outside of the department, which triggered more than a year of litigation between that union and the city.
During that time, the Edinburg Police Department internal affairs...
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