Soon after sitting, Beitey said Omens removed the loaded handgun from the holster and placed it on the table, pointing the barrel at Beitey. Published in The San Diego Union-Tribune, print and online, Aug. 17, 2015.
A Miramar College faculty member who was disciplined after carrying a handgun into an administrative meeting on campus has filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the San Diego Community College District.
The faculty member, Jordan Omens of the school of public safety, met with administrators in October 2014 to report his suspicion that teachers were illegally selling ammunition to Miramar students at the college’s police academy firing range, according to his lawsuit.
In court papers, college officials say ammunition sales are allowed. They placed Omens on paid administrative leave the same day as the meeting, according to his lawsuit and the district’s legal filings.
The lawsuit, filed in San Diego Superior Court in early June, alleges that administrators acted in retaliation against Omens for his report of the ammunition sales.
District officials declined to comment on the pending litigation, and Omens did not return calls for comment.
In legal filings, officials say that they placed Omens on administrative leave for brandishing his handgun during the October meeting.
“Brandishing a firearm is a crime,” the district said in a legal filing. “Omens was placed on leave of absence and disciplined for brandishing the handgun.”
George Beitey, the dean of Miramar’s school of public safety and defendant in the lawsuit, described the October meeting in a sworn declaration filed in court last month. Beitey and Roanna Bennie, who was then the vice president of instruction, attended the meeting.
According to Beitey’s statement, he observed a holster with a loaded handgun on the right side of Omens’ hip as he entered the room.
Soon after sitting, Beitey said Omens removed the loaded handgun from the holster and placed it on the table, pointing the barrel at Beitey.
“I told Omens that we could not have a firearm in the room, and I attempted to grab it and remove it,” Beitey wrote. “[Omens] grabbed it first and said the gun was not going to be removed. He said he felt unsafe and that if I didn't like it, I could call college police. He was extremely agitated as he said this, and I feared he may have shot us at this point.”
Omens then laid the handgun at his feet, Beitey wrote, and Bennie began asking Omens what he wanted to discuss.
Omens described the ammunition sales and said he felt threatened by one of the teachers who he believed was selling bullets to students. The October meeting concluded with an agreement to move Omens’ office further from the other instructor’s office, to reduce interaction.
Beitey and Bennie contacted the San Diego Police after the meeting, and police referred the matter to the human resources department of the college district. Beitey and Bennie were advised by the district to place Omens on paid administrative leave.
Miramar administrators complied and issued the leave on the same day, according to Beitey’s declaration, citing the gun-related incident.
California’s Gun-Free School Zone Act of 1995 prohibits any person to carry a firearm into a school zone. Retired law enforcement officers are an exception, as long as they are authorized to carry a concealed weapon.
Omens is a retired law enforcement officer. According to his lawsuit, he carried his licensed handgun into the meeting in light of threats from the other instructor.
The lawsuit claims that the college used the handgun narrative and the administrative leave “to divert attention from the ammunition sales.”
According to the district, the ammunition sales are not illegal.
“Nothing in the law prohibits sales by individuals who are not dealers,” its filings say. The district added that because staff members “were selling ammunition to registered students in a Police Science course, there was no violation of law in the sales.”
In a sworn declaration, one of the instructors said that selling ammunition to students at the firing range has been common practice among Miramar faculty since he began teaching at the college in 1989.
Omens is seeking $100,000 in the lawsuit, along with interest and attorney fees. Public records show he is paid $100,000 a year as an instructor, and receives a $51,000 annual pension from his service as a San Diego police officer. His administrative leave ended this past January, and he will be returning to class this fall.
Image Credit: John Gastaldo of The San Diego Union-Tribune.