Updated as of 8/1/2023 at 9:30 a.m. ET
We told you last week that officials in Circleville, Ohio, had ruled that a police officer accused of releasing a K-9 on a surrendering Black man was acting within department policy. When a cop who’s been caught red handed abusing a civilian is found to be justified, they typically get to go on about their lives as if nothing happened, damage to their victims or to the community be damned. But not here. This cop—the one who was within department policy, despite other officers on the scene literally telling him not to release the dog on a man with his hands up, got fired.
So, why was he fired, you ask? The Scioto Valley Guardian reports his termination was the result of him being intolerably emotional. In other words, he survived his harmful actions in uniform only to be undone by his inability to stop whining about it to anyone who’d listen.
Documents obtained by The Guardian included a memo from Chief Gary Shawn Baer saying former officer Ryan Speakman was feeling the heat from the press publicizing the story of the attack on 23-year-old Jadarrius Rose. Speakman was described in the documents to have repeated emotional meltdowns at work and talk the officers’ ears off about what the news was reporting. The chief said he told Speakman that “crying and gossping” about the July 4 incident was not beneficial to the department, especially since he got off for it.
“I told [Speakman] that Deputy Chief Davis had already told him that he needed to stop going around to everyone talking about the deployment,” the chief wrote. “The review board had convened, and everything appeared that the deployment was within policy and training guidelines.”
However, Speakman approached his colleagues again after their conversation in complete shambles. He told the chief he only vented to his fellow officers. However, the ex-cop ended up producing a two-page list of the people from outside the department he had impromptu therapy sessions with about the dog mauling.
Because he lied about who he blabbed to, he was put on paid leave and eventually given the boot for “unauthorized and inappropriate intentional release of confidential or protected information, materials, data, forms, or reports obtained as a result of the member’s position with this department.”
Even though the department cleared him of any wrongdoing in the K-9 attack, the torment Speakman is experiencing seems like he doesn’t feel like he didn’t do something wrong.
The Use of Force Review Board Investigation
According to NBC News, the department said Speakman was terminated “effective immediately” from the department because his actions July 4th did not meet the standards and expectations they hold for their officers. Speakman is accused of releasing a K-9 on Rose after he was pulled over by Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers. Rose was told to get out of his vehicle with hands up, which he complied. Though, as Speakman ordered Rose to get on the ground, state troopers ordered Speakman not to release the dog because Rose was surrendering. Speakman released the dog anyway.
Body camera footage showed Rose being mauled on his arms as the officers pressed him into the ground. However, the investigation didn’t say that allowing the dog to nearly bite the man’s arms off violated the agency’s policy.
Read more from ABC 7 News:
The police department’s investigation into the incident included a determination by a use of force review board that determined the agency’s “policy for the use of canines was followed in the apprehension and arrest” of Rose, according to a statement from the department.
“It’s important to understand that the Review Board is charged only with determining whether an employee’s actions in the use of force incident were within department policies and procedures,” the statement added. “The Review Board does not have the authority to recommend discipline.”
As expected, the police union ran to Speakman’s defense echoing the findings from the review board.
Ohio Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association filed a grievance on Speakman’s behalf alleging he was terminated without just cause and demanded the department to pay and reimburse the ex-cop for lost wages. They also argued his termination was contrary to the mandatory principles of progressive discipline in their bargaining agreement.
It was originally unclear what warranted the disciplinary action if the use of force wasn’t against department policy. But if that’s case... what is the procedure for letting dogs loose on citizens?