HUBBARD TWP. Ex-cop sues officials over job dismissal

Township officials have said the officer was fired for abandoning her job.
By STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- A former Hubbard Township police officer has filed a lawsuit against an attorney working for the township, the police chief and township trustees contending she was fired for blowing the whistle on the chief for fixing tickets.
"A lot of officers were complaining and they came to me," said Joyce Coleman, a 12-year veteran of the township police department. "They didn't want to say anything because they were part time and they thought they would be fired."
As a full-time officer, Coleman was a member of the Fraternal Order of Police union, while the part-time officers are not.
Workers' comp claim: Coleman and her attorney, Sarah Kovoor, contend in the suit filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Youngstown that township officials were also retaliating against Coleman for filing a workers' compensation claim.
Coleman has not worked since injuring her knee June 24 while working security at Roma Manor, a township banquet hall on state Route 304.
She filed a compensation claim against the township, which was dismissed, but she collected against Roma Manor, she said.
Traffic tickets: Coleman said she brought the allegations that traffic tickets written by township police never made it to Judge Michael Bernard in Girard Municipal Court.
The accusations were investigated by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation and on July 16, Chief Todd Coonce acknowledged that he was in contempt of court for "voiding" 14 traffic tickets between May 14, 1997, and Sept. 18, 2000.
Judge Bernard ordered him to pay the $1,308 that the court would have received in fines and costs from those tickets. The docket entry also forbids Coonce from retaliating against the officers who brought the situation to light.
Cop's firing: Coleman was fired Oct. 8 by township trustees Frederick Hanley, Joseph Gleydura and Howard Bradley for an unrelated reason, township officials say.
In a letter Aug. 30, Coonce charged her with making no attempt to contact township officials about her injury and called for her termination for abandoning her job.
On Sept. 12, Atty. Michael J. Angelo of Cleveland, who was working for the township, conducted a predisciplinary hearing on the matter. On Sept. 27 he upheld Coleman's dismissal.
Coleman contends everyone in the police department knew about her injury.
About three months after her injury, four fellow officers donated 35 of their own sick leave days to her, including Coonce, who provided five days.
"By suggesting she abandoned her job, they affected her reputation, her standing in the community, her ability to get another job," said Kovoor. "There is nothing in her personnel file to suggest there was any problem with discipline."