Sheriff will fight fired deputy's reinstatement

Despite an arbitrator's ruling reinstating him to the force, fired McHenry County Sheriff's Deputy Zane Seipler will not be welcome back on the job anytime soon, Sheriff Keith Nygren said Tuesday.

Nygren said he will ask a court to overturn the arbitrator's ruling and instead enforce his decision to fire Seipler last year after the deputy admitted letting off two men driving without licenses and instead issuing tickets to two female passengers riding with them.

"Zane Seipler is guilty of violating the law and guilty of violating the moral position we take as police officers," Nygren said in his first public comments on the arbitrator's ruling. "He should not be a police officer."

Nygren fired Seipler, a four-year department veteran, in November after an investigation revealed two cases in which he pulled over Hispanic men driving without a license, told them to switch seats with a female passenger and then ticketed the woman. In one instance the woman was cited for driving without insurance. In the other, the woman received a warning for speeding.

Seipler this week admitted his actions were "mistakes," but said they were done simply to give teens a break.

He won reinstatement when an arbitrator ruled recently that dismissal was too harsh a penalty for the incidents, and instead imposed a three-day suspension. Nygren called the ruling "very discouraging," saying Seipler's actions jeopardize the credibility of his entire department.

"It's wrong to arrest someone because of race," he said. "It's also wrong to let them go because of race."

Seipler, who has complained of racial profiling by other sheriff's deputies, not only wants his job back - he wants Nygren's job. The Woodstock resident is challenging Nygren for the Republican nomination for sheriff in next year's primary.