PROVIDENCE A federal judge has ruled that Johnston’s former police chief violated the First Amendment rights of the department’s union president in 2017 when he disciplined him for speaking to a Providence Journal reporter for a story.
In her ruling in the case filed by lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island, U.S. District Judge Mary McElroy on Tuesday found that then-Johnston Police Chief Richard Tamburini’s actions amounted to “an unconstitutional effort to stifle protected speech” of then-Detective James Brady.
In September 2016, Brady, an 18-year veteran of the force, spoke to Providence Journal reporter Jacqueline Tempera about police officer Adam Catamero, who had been terminated from the department. Brady indicated he was speaking in his role as union president of Local 307 of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers.