Suspended Police Officer Is Fired

A Simi Valley police officer who was suspended last summer for his role in a bar fight has been fired.

Officer Kenneth “Bo” Stephenson, 30, left the force Monday after nine years on patrol, special enforcement and narcotics details, said Capt. Richard Wright. Citing privacy laws, Wright declined to say why Stephenson is no longer on the force.

But Lt. John Rygh, former president of the Simi Valley Police Officers’ Assn., said Stephenson was terminated because he got into an altercation with an unidentified man last summer at the Tree House Sports Bar and Grill.

Stephenson could not be reached Tuesday or Wednesday for comment.

However, his attorney said the officer plans to appeal his termination to the city manager’s office by Friday.

“The evidence does not support the termination,” said Stuart Adams, Stephenson’s Sacramento-based lawyer. “We have evidence to contradict and put into question the credibility of the statements of certain witnesses.

“He’s a pretty high-profile officer,” Adams said. “He’s highly active in narcotics enforcement, and he’s well-known throughout Simi Valley. . . . He’s a good cop, and there’s some people [in the department] that like him and some people that don’t, and that’s just a product of his personality.”