VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Charges have been dropped against a Virginia Beach Building 2 employee who was charged after he was told he was going back to work in the building.
Jon McIvor was in Building 2 when a heavily armed coworker killed 12 people and injured four others.
Since the shooting, McIvor had been working in Building 17. Last Tuesday, he met with two supervisors and was told he would have to start working again in Building 2.
“People lost their lives in there and right now I wasn’t ready to get back in there and work,” McIvor said.
According to court records, McIvor became agitated and angry. He then began yelling and stormed out of the meeting.
Police showed up at work the next day and arrested him from two counts of disturbing the peace. His supervisors Darrell Riddick and Jamie Weaver went to a magistrate to take out the warrants.
McIvor spent more than 24 hours in jail.
“I just want to clear my name and get back to work,” McIvor said.
Wednesday morning, Riddick and Weaver went to court and had the charges against McIvor dismissed.
“It is the first step to making things right for him,” said McIvor’s attorney Taite Westendorf, of Westendorf and Khalaf, “Obviously the charges were ridiculous to begin with and we are glad that we were able to get them quickly dismissed.”
Westendorf says Riddick nor Weaver gave any type of explanation why the charges were dropped so quickly.
“We’re pleased that we were able to get a quick and speedy resolution to the criminal process,” Westendorf said. “Unfortunately that does not undo the fact that Jon was arrested in front of his co-workers, handcuffed, strip searched, put in an orange jumpsuit and forced to spend the night behind bars.”
City officials said they can’t talk about personnel matters when contacted on about the arrest Friday. 10 On You Side asked again for comment on Wednesday, and we have not heard back as of this story being published.
McIvor was placed on administrative leave after the arrest. He still has not been told if he will be reinstated.
“You could read the warrant and you could immediately recognize there was no criminal behavior,” Westendorf said. “There was nothing remotely close to criminal they should have never been issued in the first place.”
Westendorf tells 10 On Your Side McIvor is evaluating all of his options, including taking the city to civil court.
10 On Your Side talked with Mayor Bobby Dyer and he repeated that employees who were in Building 2 on May 31 will not be forced to go back to work inside that building.