Former state trooper files appeal over firing

SOUTHINGTON — An Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper fired earlier this month for dishonesty has filed an appeal through his union.

Gregory T. Allen, a nine-year veteran of the patrol’s Southington post, was fired Jan. 14. A patrol spokesman said Friday that Allen has appealed through the Ohio State Troopers Association.

In his termination letter, Henry Guzman, director of the Ohio Department of Public Safety, said Allen violated the patrol’s rules and regulations, made false statements and had noncompliance to orders.

The patrol spokesman said Allen was fired as the result of a June 8, 2007, traffic stop of Deryck Toles, a former Warren G. Harding and Penn State University football player.

According to Toles’ complaint, he said he was stopped by Allen not because of speeding, but because of racial profiling. Toles is black and Allen is white. Allen was told to attend sensitivity training in September.

Allen did not respond to a telephone message left at his home Friday.