CRYSTAL LAKE – The city is going to court to fight an order by a labor arbitrator to rehire a police officer fired in 2014 for negligence.

The motion, filed Thursday in McHenry County Court, asks a judge to vacate an arbitrator’s June 5 ruling that the city rehire former officer Adam Munaretto, who was fired after he let an intoxicated and repeat DUI offender drive away from a crash.

Mayor Aaron Shepley said Friday that the city is filing suit to maintain the integrity of a “top-notch” police department by keeping Munaretto off of it.

“I don’t believe that an arbitrator should be able to substitute his judgment for that of our leadership team, as in this case. The arbitrator in my eyes overstepped his bounds – he acknowledged in his report there was a dereliction of duty, and the only thing he quarreled with was the severity of the penalty,” Shepley said.

Munaretto, a 14-year veteran of the department, responded to a crash in the early-morning hours of May 3, 2014, in which driver James Zabinski of Algonquin rear-ended a physician's assistant stopped at the intersection of Routes 31 and 176 on her way home from work. Despite the crash, Zabinski's talking to himself, and his pleas with the woman not to call police, Munaretto made no effort to run a background check on him – he had multiple prior DUI arrests – or ask his business or whether he had been drinking, according to records.

Zabinski was allowed to drive from the scene with two traffic citations – records revealed that Munaretto spent a “significant” period of time during the 38-minute stop on the phone with a woman he was dating, according to the lawsuit.

“In other words, he took absolutely no steps whatsoever to detect whether Zabinski was impaired and could endanger public safety. A perfunctory criminal history check would have revealed that Zabinski had multiple prior arrests and convictions for DUI,” the lawsuit states.

A Lake in the Hills police officer pulled Zabinski over on Route 31, eight minutes later and four miles from the crash, and detected a strong odor of alcohol. Zabinski failed the field sobriety test and was arrested. He blew a .205 at the police station, which is more than twice the legal limit – an expert brought in during Munaretto's termination process concluded that Zabinski's blood-alcohol level could have been as much as three times the legal limit when Munaretto talked to him.

Police Chief James Black determined that Munaretto’s actions and decisions merited firing, on top of the fact that he had served 41 suspension days over an 11-year period, by far the highest number on the force, according to the lawsuit.

Munaretto, who like other sworn city officers is represented by the Metropolitan Alliance of Police Chapter 177, appealed his firing – the union argued that the city lacked just cause to do so.

But while acknowledging that Munaretto failed to conduct an adequate investigation into the Zabinski crash, Arbitrator Steven Bierig ordered Munaretto’s firing reduced to a 60-day suspension and the awarding of back pay, but with a “last chance order” that would allow his immediate termination if he engages in similar behavior again.

“I believe that progressive discipline is appropriate under the circumstances of this case,” Bierig wrote in his conclusion.

The city alleges in its lawsuit that Bierig’s interpretation of the city’s contract with the police union is arbitrary, violates the department’s established right to fire officers who are not competent to discharge their duties, damages the public’s trust in law enforcement officials and does not promote the safety and welfare of the public.

“This conclusion is particularly true where, as here, a police officer is charged with making decisions that can have real life-and-death consequences to members of the public,” the lawsuit states.

The police union is disappointed that the city filed a lawsuit, board member Rick Tracy said. He said appeals of arbitrator rulings by governments are rare, and he said it’s rarer for the courts to overturn the arbitrator.

“It’s within Crystal Lake’s right to do so. We just have to see how the process works out,” Tracy said.

The case is scheduled for a Sept. 29 scheduling conference before Judge Michael Caldwell.