TRUMBULL COUNTY Police chief hasn't issued patrol officer's discipline

The officer would have the chance to appeal if he's disciplined.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The police chief says he does not know when he will discipline an officer caught on videotape last year using a racial slur.
Fred Harris, former safety-service director, and former Mayor Hank Angelo ordered Police Chief John Mandopoulos in November to take disciplinary action against patrol officer Manny Nites.
Mandopoulos said he had filed an administrative charge against Nites and held a hearing. He said the charge was for using an improper word. He declined to say when the hearing was held or when the decision will be issued.
"I have the decision but I'm not issuing it yet," the chief said Wednesday. He noted that Nites is off for a few days because of an illness in his family.
If Nites is disciplined, he will have the opportunity to appeal the chief's decision to Doug Franklin, city safety-service director.
Urging officials
For the past year, Tom Conley, president and CEO of the Warren-Trumbull Urban League, has been asking officials to discipline Nites.
Conley has said he felt Nites should be disciplined for his behavior and for statements he made on a videotape while in the parking lot of now-closed nightclub 77 Soul.
The tape was made May 24, 2003, by Charlie Adams, a friend of LaShawn Ziegler's. Ziegler operated the nightclub. Adams was videotaping in the club parking lot.
The chief and Nites were seen on the videotape sticking their eyes into the camera lens. The chief has maintained that he and Nites were just joking with Adams, but Adams has contended he felt threatened.
Nites can be heard on the tape using a racial slur and calling the cameraman a snitch.
In December, the chief received a 10-day suspension on administrative charges stemming from his actions at the club and allegations that he told a television reporter that he would give addresses of local journalists to drug dealers.
The chief has denied the allegations. As long as he attends training seminars, he will not have to serve the suspension, the city's civil service commission ruled.
sinkovich@vindy.com