TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - A state hearing officer is recommending that a fired Florida Highway Patrol trooper be given his job back.
The recommended order released Monday states that Trooper Charles Swindle should have been suspended without pay for three weeks instead of losing his job.
Swindle was fired because he wrote false $10 citations for no proof of insurance to two legislators and another driver instead of ticketing them for speeding.
The firing came after Rep. Charles McBurney, R-Jacksonville, complained about the ticket.
Swindle's attorney argued that the trooper was following an unwritten policy to give a break to state legislators.
The hearing officer agreed Swindle should be disciplined, but said he was in a "no-win situation" when he pulled over the legislators in November 2012.
