The Civil Service Commission on Monday upheld the firing of a former New Orleans Police Department special ops officer for stalking, agreeing with NOPD chiefs that a man arrested multiple times for domestic violence shouldn’t be a cop.
“He was … being arrested over and over again for domestic violence incidents, and allowing him to continue his service with the police department would certainly cause the public to question the police department’s legitimacy,” NOPD deputy superintendent Nicholas Gernon said at an Aug. 15 chief’s panel, according to the commission’s decision.
Kaja Rhea, 25, was arrested twice in Orleans Parish last spring after using his police unit to stalk his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend and trying to fight the boyfriend. He was arrested in March on one count of stalking, then arrested again in April on two counts of violating a protective order and 36 counts each of obscene phone calls and stalking…