Civil Service Commission upholds termination of former Fargo police officer

FARGO, N.D. (KFGO) – The Fargo Civil Service Commission has upheld the termination of former police officer Justin Nachatilo in a 4-1 vote on Friday.

Nachatilo was fired in December after an internal review concluded that he mishandled two cases. Police Chief David Zibolski said in one of the cases, Nachatilo was on his way to a missing persons call, but took 27 minutes to respond and even stopped along the way.

In another case, Nachatilo did not meet with the victim of a stolen vehicle or finish paperwork for the vehicle.

Commission member Kurt Losee was the dissenting vote after asking that one paragraph of the complaint against Nachatilo be removed. He believes that, although Nachatilo may not have told the whole truth, he didn’t lie as is claimed.

“I didn’t see any evidence that he was lying,” Losee said. “I’d like to strike that paragraph. After reading it two or three times, and listening to the testimony, I didn’t find that he actually lied. He may have been covering himself, but he did not lie. It affects his future jobs.”

Commission member Jane Pettinger said Nachatilo was not fully forthcoming.

“An omission of information and an attempt to alter reasoning on Officer Nachatilo’s part was understandable, but does not support full disclosure and honesty,” Pettinger said.

The paragraph was not stricken and the commission moved forward with the vote to uphold the termination.

Nachatilo’s attorney, Leo Wilking, has previously said they will appeal to the Fargo City Commission if the Civil Service Commission upholds the termination.