The next chapter in the saga of the twice-indicted Selma Police Department (SPD) officers – Jeffrey Hardy, Toriano Neely and Kendall Thomas – who were placed on administrative leave last year as a result of an ongoing investigation into unspecified acts was written Friday in Dallas County Circuit Court under the oversight of Judge Collins Pettaway, Jr.

It was then and there that Pettaway ruled in the officers’ favor, denying a motion from the city to dismiss a civil case brought by Montgomery attorney Julian McPhillips to provide the officers with back pay for the duration of their time away from the job, as well as a personnel hearing before the city.

“I think it’s a big victory for the police officers on their civil case,” McPhillips said. “We hope to get them paid good money for the time they’ve been out and wrongly accused.”

In his ruling, which names Selma Mayor Darrio Melton and Personnel Director Sean VanDiver alongside the City of Selma as defendants, Pettaway wrote that he relied on the “complaint and supplements filed” to reach his decision.

“Such apprises the defendants sufficiently of the claims and allegations and the pleadings meet the threshold necessary for alleging the causes of action,” the ruling states.

“We will be sending requests for information and documents to the named defendants regarding their actions and inactions pursuant to the city’s rules and procedures when suspending an employee without pay or benefits,” said David Sawyer, who was worked beside McPhillips throughout the officers’ ordeal.

The ruling follows an Aug. 2 hearing in which McPhillips and Sawyer went head-to-head with Hill, Hill, Carter attorney Reed Coleman, who argued on behalf of the city that the request for back pay should be tossed.

In that hearing, McPhillips asserted that the city continued to “flagrantly disregard” its own personnel rules, which allow for a personnel hearing in cases of suspension, termination or “adverse employment action.”