SOUTHWEST OHIO Controversial officer loses pistol in restroom

Stephen Roach was in court in a civil rights lawsuit.
CINCINNATI (AP) -- A police officer whose fatal shooting of an unarmed black man sparked three nights of rioting in 2001 lost a loaded handgun in a Hamilton County Courthouse restroom, the sheriff's office said.
Stephen Roach, an officer in suburban Evendale, was in court to answer accusations that he violated a suspect's civil rights when he worked for Cincinnati police in 2000.
He reported his .40-caliber Glock missing on Monday after he realized he had left it behind in a restroom, a sheriff's office report said. When he went back to the restroom looking for it, the gun was gone. Roach said he used the weapon for off-duty security work.
Anyone caught with the gun could face charges including receiving stolen property, sheriff's office spokesman Steve Barnett said.
Evendale police Chief Gary Foust planned to review the issue in the next week, Lt. Tom Oakes said.
Cleared of wrongdoing
The three nights of riots happened after Roach, who is white, shot the black man who was wanted on misdemeanor charges when he ran from police. Roach was cleared of charges at trial. He later resigned and went to work as a patrolman in Evendale.
In his latest court case, Roach was accused in a civil lawsuit of violating the civil rights of a man arrested on a loud noise complaint in 2000. The jury on Friday cleared Roach and the city of wrongdoing, but ordered then-Cincinnati police officer Brian Little to pay defendant Larry DeVant $15,000 in damages.
DeVant alleged Roach watched Little slam the man's head into a banister during the arrest and did nothing to stop it.