DeKalb County has fired a trash collector who was arrested for DUI while driving a government truck, then rehired months later.
The March 2011 arrest of Sidarius Johnson, 33, comprised a paragraph in the 40-page corruption report handed to the county last week by special investigators Mike Bowers and Richard Hyde. Johnson, however, was not identified by name.
The report said that after the arrest, “the impound fee of $140 was paid using county funds. The employee pled guilty to DUI and resigned from the Sanitation Department. The next week he was rehired by the county.”
County spokesman Burke Brennan said Johnson was actually rehired six months later. He was fired Monday, Brennan said.
Johnson told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that a deputy director fired him because he didn’t disclose the DUI when he reapplied for his job. He could not explain why, but said it wouldn’t have disqualified him even if he had disclosed it.
Johnson said he will appeal his firing.
“I can only say that the county knew about the situation and failed to take any actions until after this corruption report was released,” he said in a prepared statement. “This is a violation of my rights as a county employee, and that’s why I’m fighting for my job back.”
