Vicksburg officials were justified in placing on unpaid leave a police officer whose medical status was in question, the Civil Service Commission has ruled.

The ruling denies Officer Rudolph Walker, a 25-year policeman, his request for back pay and reinstatement of leave time he spent during that time.

His attorney, Richard Dean, called the ruling &#8220outrageous” and &#8220self-contradictory” and said an appeal would be filed with the Warren County Circuit Court.

Testimony during Walker’s appeal to the three-member commission indicated he has diabetes and reported having blackout spells while on overnight duty this year.

The city asked that Walker provide a medical opinion on his fitness for duty and received at least one letter of response from Walker’s doctor. The information the city received, however, was insufficient to allow it to determine Walker’s fitness for duty, Associate City Attorney Walterine Langford argued during the Nov. 18 hearing.

The city placed Walker on unpaid leave June 2. It cleared him to return to work after he was evaluated by a Jackson doctor, and he returned to work Sept. 15, Vicksburg Civil Service Commissioners Joe Graham, Clyde Harris and Janice Carstafhnur wrote in finding unanimously for the city.

&#8220The commission believes that all parties could have better handled the issue of obtaining a timely verification of (Walker’s) fitness for duty,” the commission wrote in an order made public Monday.

&#8220The commission is of the opinion that the Board of Mayor and Aldermen’s decision to place Officer Rudolph Walker on leave without pay pending medical verification for fitness for duty was based on just cause, although the matter should have been addressed in a more-efficient manner.”

Walker first joined the police department nearly 30 years ago and has served as an officer for more than 25 years. He returned to work on the department’s evening shift.

The ruling was the second recent endorsement of a city board action by the panel appointed to conduct neutral reviews for rank and file fire and police officers.

Earlier this year, the panel upheld a suspension and demotion for an officer in the Vicksburg Fire Department who wrote a letter to the editor critical of the administration. The city cited a rule against &#8220political” activity by Civil Service employees. No appeal was filed within the statutory 10-day period.