Vegas joyride was 'stupid,' Glendale police officer says

The only Glendale police officer to keep his job after taking a joy ride to Las Vegas with two others told investigators it was a “stupid prank” he regretted, according to court documents.

The Civil Service Commission voted 4 to 1 last week to reinstate Officer Patrick Hamblin after he was fired in March, the Glendale News-Press reported.

But they voted 3 to 2 to uphold earlier decisions to fire Officers Fernando Salmeron and Michael Ullerich, who had worked with Hamblin in the Community Policing Unit.

“Going out there, I remember a couple of spots where I thought, ‘This is completely stupid. We shouldn’t be doing this,’” Hamblin said in court documents. “And I never voiced those. I wish I had.”

The interviews, part of an internal investigation, were included in a preliminary injunction the officers filed in May in Los Angeles County Superior Court, but that was later dropped in June.

Police officials have declined to discuss the matter, citing personnel privacy rules.

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-- Veronica Rocha, Times Community News