State panel rules fired trooper should get job back

The State Personnel Commission has ruled that a state trooper fired a year ago should be reinstated at his demoted rank and pay.

Trooper Anthony E. Scott, a 15-year veteran of the force, was in the home of a Chatham County woman in 2009 when her estranged husband allegedly attacked her.

The Highway Patrol said Scott was on duty at the time but wasn't at the home on official business. There was no indication whether Scott tried to intervene in the assault.

Scott was demoted and transferred after the incident. During his appeal of the demotion, Secretary of Crime Control and Public Safety Ruben Young fired him.

An administrative law judge ruled in October that Scott should be reinstated at the lower rank, and the Personnel Commission recently agreed with that ruling.

There was no immediate word on whether the Highway Patrol will appeal the decision to Superior Court.