Hearing officer upholds firing of off-duty parole, probation officer

Art Rader, who served one term in the Assembly in 1985, was on his way home from his job as a Pinkerton Security guard in January 1997 when he saw two men beating a third man.

He entered a convenience market to use a telephone to report the crime. But the clerk, Irfan Chaundry, wouldn't call 911 when asked. So Rader came behind the counter with a gun pointed at Chaundry and used the telephone.

After making the emergency call, Rader failed to report the incident to the Parole and Probation Division. He was dismissed from his job effective July 14, 1997, after a review by the state Department of Motor Vehicles and Public Safety.

Rader appealed his dismissal. But Hearing Officer John Graves Jr. said the agency was right in firing Rader.

"Rader's ungovernable temper could have caused the death or serious injury to Chaundry," Graves said.

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