Howland

Plaintiff appeals following entry of summary judgment on defendant’s motion. We reverse.

Plaintiff, a former deputy sheriff of the County of Shasta, filed this action in November 1981 against defendant, who at the time of plaintiff’s alleged injury was plaintiff’s supervisor and Sheriff of Shasta County. Plaintiff’s complaint included causes of action for slander and violation of the Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights Act. (Gov. Code, § 3300 et seq.)

Plaintiff’s allegations of slander are based upon statements made by defendant to Dave Waddell, a newspaper reporter for the Redding Record Searchlight. According to the complaint, defendant told Waddell “[tjhat Plaintiff while on duty as a Shasta County deputy sheriff, used unnecessary force in the arrest of an upstanding citizen, and that. . . Defendant had punished Plaintiff by banishing him to a custody position and determining never to assign Plaintiff to patrol duty again, or words to that effect, [f] . . . That. . . Defendant knew . . . [the] statements would ... be printed in said Record Searchlight newspaper and distributed throughout the County of Shasta, [1] [That] [t]he words . . . spoken . . .…