Lamping
By jeanne starmack
struthers
A Struthers police officer who was fired after he was charged with operating a vehicle while impaired has filed a grievance with the city.
Officer Daniel Lamping, 34, was fired Friday. He was stopped in Boardman on South Avenue at 11:14 p.m. July 16 by an Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper who saw him driving without lights.
The trooper reported he could smell alcohol when he went to Lamping’s car. Lamping told the trooper he had two beers, according to documents on file with Mahoning County Court in Boardman.
He was charged with OVI and arrested after refusing field- sobriety tests. He also refused a breath test at the OSHP post.
Lamping filed a grievance through the Ohio Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association on Tuesday.
Struthers Mayor Terry Stocker said the city has 14 days to answer it.
Stocker said city administrators had one meeting with Lamping in the days after his arrest, and they offered him a disciplinary conference, which he waived.
Stocker said that because Lamping waived the conference, there was no way to explore alternatives to firing him.
“I had hoped that you would be willing to offer some explanation for your conduct ... beyond the interview that was conducted during the investigative phase of this situation,” Stocker wrote in a letter to Lamping dated Friday. “Since you offered no further explanation, as is your right, you have left me no choice but to evaluate the charges and evidence as it stands at this point.”
Daniel Leffler, an attorney with the OPBA, said he advised Lamping not to participate in a disciplinary conference.
Garrity rights protected Lamping during the first internal investigation, Leffler said, so statements Lamping made then could not be used against him in his criminal case. But that is not so with a disciplinary conference, Leffler said.
“He refused the hearing because of the current criminal case pending,” Leffler said.
Leffler said Lamping’s grievance is based on the city’s not having just cause to fire him.
“The officer hasn’t appeared in court or been convicted,” he said.
“There are circumstances where officers throughout the state have gotten DUIs and gotten driving privileges, and on conclusion of a criminal matter, they returned to work.”
Stocker said earlier this week that because Lamping refused a breath test, the city’s insurance carrier considers him uninsurable. Stocker also said Lamping admitted in the first interview with administrators that he drank more than two beers the night of his arrest.
Comments
Good for Struthers for carrying out justice. This officer was clearly drunk -- I'll go on a limb and say pretty drunk. It's bad that he didn't know he didn't have his lights on and also not good for him to decline the FST and breath test, since they are trained how to give those tests properly.
RK330,
Seriously, get a Life. It's obvious you don't have one !!
This guy hasn't even been found guilty and you want to throw him to the wolves. Unbelievable how everyone wants everyone else to be as miserable as they are !!
Refusing the breath test is considered an admission of guilt or why refuse? If you have nothing to hide then take the test.
In Ohio if you refuse to take the breath test you lose your license for a year whether you are found guilty or innocent. That's where this officer messed up. If he had taken the test and been found guilty, he wouldn't have lost his license for that long.
RK330, You get a life and get the facts!
The officer is also a human being...he got a DUI and that does not warrant termination.
Good job by the Struthers Mayor.....fire a guy you know will get his job back....but what the heck, the City pays all the legal bills for Stocker. The fact that thousands of dollars in legal bills will be wasted because the Mayor fired someone how did not legally deserve to be terminated, means nothing to Stocker.
HeMyPO and jimt01: I wrote a defense e-book on drunk driving defenses, which has sold quite well on the Kindle and other marketplaces.
I am against the FST's as they only have about a 65-70% accuracy in a healthy adult under desirable conditions. Most attorneys, even cops, will tell you they are designed for failure. With that being said, there was no reason for him to not take the breath test, as those are rather reliable when administered properly.
In Ohio -- and most states -- driving is considered a privilege and you agree that you will give a blood/alcohol test anytime. If you don't, you lose your license for a year. He could have always taken the test, failed, hired a good attorney, and fought with the results like many people do.
Declining the disciplinary conference is what probably hurt him the most when it comes down to it. It would have been possible for him to go through the OVI charge and obtaining driving privileges for work. I just don't see things going well for him since he declined everything.
I love all of you computer Matlocks and CSI's!!! Next, someone is going to say they got a law degree online!
Most people do not lose their job over an ovi/dui.
Then again most people when stopped by the cops co-operate and take the fst and blow into the tube.
If the company who carries the cities insurance policy will not insure this officer then the city doesn't have much choice but to let him go.
That said I would think a determination of guilt or innocence should be made in a court of law before any action is taken against this man.
He does have the right to his day in court.
These are the kinds of situations that make law abiding, police supporting individuals think that Unions have too much power...
Struthers is a small city with very limited funds. They only have a handful of full time police positions, where each officer is relied on heavily to carry his or her weight.
Regardless of whether it is this guy or someone else, when an officer from a small force gets a DUI , he burdens the rest the of the department and the community to replace him and continue to provide services...
The mayor should be scrutinized if he didn't fire him. Mistakes of this nature are not tolerable and the citizens should be kept at the forefront of all actions, not the officer, who is clearly in the wrong...
It's not too much of a stretch to expect police officers to not break the law. This man was driving drunk and deserved to be fired. Maybe he can find another job where he won't be a hypocrite.