Seattle officer fired over felony charge to be rehired

A Seattle police officer who was fired last year after he was charged with felony harassment of his ex-wife will be rehired.

Felton Miles escaped a felony conviction after a Snohomish County jury deadlocked in favor of acquittal in January. Miles later pleaded guilty to misdemeanor harassment.

Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske refused to rehire Miles, and Miles appealed the chief's decision to the Public Safety Civil Service Commission — which ruled in the officer's favor.

On Tuesday, the Seattle City Attorney's Office said that Miles will be rehired. Ruth Bowman, a spokeswoman for City Attorney Tom Carr, said that the rehiring process has been started and will likely be "finalized" next week.

On Aug. 7, the Public Safety Civil Service Commission issued an opinion disagreeing with the way Kerlikowske handled Miles' firing and found a department policy of routinely firing officers after they have been charged with a felony — but before being convicted — was "not reasonable."

The commission ordered the department to meet with Miles and come up with a "remedy" to his case. Miles' attorney said he wants to return to the force.

Seattle police Sgt. Sean Whitcomb said Tuesday that the department is complying with the order made by the commission and is rehiring Miles.

In January, 10 of the 12 Snohomish County jurors voted to acquit Miles on charges that he shoved his ex-wife and threatened to kill a man she was with on June 28, 2007, in Mill Creek. To avoid a retrial, Miles pleaded guilty to misdemeanor harassment in February.

Miles, 51, acknowledged that he threatened to slap his ex-wife's date because he thought the man was making faces at him. He denied he threatened to kill him. He said his gun was in the car.

Miles, a 20-year veteran of the department, has since described the incident as "sophomoric."

"It was stupid," he said earlier this month. "I just want to get back to work. I love being a cop."

Information from Seattle Times archives

is included in this report.

Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com