The Cheektowaga Town Board on Thursday voted to fire a police officer for exchanging

threatening text messages with an ex-girlfriend and giving untruthful and evasive answers

about whether he later contacted a friend who kicked her out of an Angola beach bar July 4,

2008.

The board rejected an investigating hearing officer's recommendation of a 60-day suspension

as punishment and voted, 6-0, to dismiss Officer David K. Robida, 31. Council Member James P.

Rogowski was absent from the special meeting.

"This action constitutes the culmination of a thorough disciplinary process," said Police

Chief Christine M. Ziemba, reading a statement after the board vote Thursday evening. "As

police chief, I expect Cheektowaga Police Department officers to treat all citizens with

dignity and respect and to follow the department's rules of conduct. I believe Officer Robida

has fallen well short of this standard."

Robida, who had been with the department for nine years, has been on paid leave for about a

year and a half. He said after Thursday's vote that he didn't understand why the board didn't

side with the hearing officer.

"I'm disappointed that the facts of the case were distorted by the Police Department," he

said in a brief statement. "I feel that it was a politically motivated decision that went

against the hearing officer's ruling ... on my behalf."

The board voted after the town clerk read an unusually detailed, six-page resolution

that revealed 48 police officers had signed a statement saying Robida's behavior "does not

warrant the title of police officer and ... it is time that [he] move on to the next phase of

[his] life." The resolution was signed by about half of the 80 to 90 rank-and-file officers

and detectives in the 129-member Police Department.

The resolution also criticized Robida for refusing to take responsibility for his

misconduct. It quoted from a letter he wrote to the department blaming "the powers that be"

for wanting him to "lose [his] employment" as the result of a "one-sided investigation."

Board members have been reviewing a report by Deputy Town Attorney Jeffrey L. Whiting, who

served as the hearing officer in the case. Last week, Whiting outlined his investigation into

Robida's 2008 conflict with his ex-girlfriend, their "mutually threatening, accusatory and

insulting" text messages in June, and Robida's contact with his friend who verbally assaulted

her and had her removed from an Angola bar July 4.

Whiting's report concluded: "... [At] this still relatively early juncture of Officer

Robida's career, I am reluctant to terminate what could still be a promising and productive

career. It is my hope and belief that, if given one last chance, Officer Robida can move off

the path of destruction he has set himself on with his unacceptable off-duty conduct."

Robida had 19 commendations for good work on the Cheektowaga force, but his record was

clouded by seven disciplinary actions. One was a 30-day suspension without pay for breaking a

man's nose at an Elma bar in 2006, leaving the scene and failing to report the incident.

Robida was arrested, pleaded guilty to harassment and paid $15,000 to the victim, who was

treated for his injuries at an ambulatory care center.

The resolution presented Thursday night drew on a doctor's psychological evaluation. Dr.

Jay A. Supnick said he thought Robida was "beyond rehabilitation" and would not recommend that

he be hired by the police force if he were newly applying for employment, according to the

resolution.

In an interview earlier this week, Robida said he has changed his ways. "I hung out with a

crowd that I probably shouldn't have. ... I did that for a little while and grew up and got

over it," he said. "I've learned from all my mistakes and have kind [of] grown since."

Ziemba was unconvinced.

"The department has given David Robida every opportunity to rehabilitate his behavior," the

chief said in her statement Thursday. "Officer Robida's refusal to take responsibility for the

consequences of his proven conduct has resulted in the termination."