The city of West Linn won’t consider former whistleblower Kirk Tonkin’s application to return to the police department to fill a captain’s job, citing language from a separation agreement he signed when he quit the agency in 2016.
Tonkin resigned when he faced investigation for bringing forward allegations of misconduct within the agency.
City manager Jerry Gabrielatos, in an email to Tonkin, quoted the clause from Tonkin’s Feb. 25, 2016 separation agreement with the city, which says he “will not seek future employment with the City,” and waived his right to legally challenge the city’s denial of a future job with West Linn.
Before Tonkin resigned from West Linn police, he had made serious complaints of alleged misconduct against three members of the department who a year later became enmeshed in the wrongful arrest of Michael Fesser, a Black man from Portland who had no connection to West Linn.
Tonkin had named then-Chief Terry Timeus, then-detective Tony Reeves and then-Lt. Mike Stradley in his whistleblower complaints to West Linn’s city manager, police, mayor and the Oregon Department of Justice.
After his complaints were largely dismissed, Tonkin instead was investigated and a former West Linn captain recommended his firing, citing his efforts “to undermine other officers,” and his participation in a “clique” that was “critical of other members of the Department,” including Timeus, Reeves and Stradley, according to the investigative report.
Tonkin left the West Linn...
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