Good man and good trooper is treated unfairly by patrol

Good man and good trooper is treated unfairly by patrol

EDITOR:

Recently an old story hit front and center again. It is about State Trooper Greg Allen doing a traffic stop involving former NFL player Deryck Toles in June 2007. The finality of it all is that a dedicated trooper has been fired. The Ohio State Highway Patrol has over reacted to an incident that was allowed to escalate beyond what it should and with devastating results.

Trooper Allen served our country in Desert Storm, is married and has two small children and attended the State Trooper Academy, a goal that he set for himself.

As a trooper, he has earned many awards, including Trooper of the Year for 2006, four Ace awards for recovering five or more stolen vehicles in one year and eight local Criminal Patrol Awards for making five or more felony arrests a year. Also, he donated his time to schools and parades in the “Trooper Teddy Program” and volunteered in soup kitchens.

Since this incident, he was involved in a high-speed chase and accident where he was seriously injured. It appears that when he is on duty, he puts his life on the line to protect this community with little regard for his own safety and well-being. He now suffers from depression and post-traumatic stress syndrome from these incidents.

Several months ago there was a “Bridging the Gap” meeting held in Warren where several troopers demonstrated to the public what a good stop should be. The reason for the above-mentioned stop was the trooper noticed there was no front license plate on the vehicle, which was a legitimate and valid reason for a “good” stop. When the trooper pursued and when the pursuit ended, the trooper failed to do a systems check for the audio portion of the stop. The video portion was working. Apparently, the stopped individual took offense at a comment by the trooper. Toles allegedly claimed that he was stopped because of his color. Trooper Allen claims this is not true because the windows in the car were darkened and he could not see the person until after the stop. Did the trooper rough up or manhandle the individual in any way? Not according to the video. Did the trooper issue the individual tickets for the missing front license plate, or the excessive speed on a city street and suspicious behavior or for not telling the trooper he had a concealed weapon in the vehicle until he was asked? No, he did not. The trooper gave him a warning only because he did not want to smirch the individual’s reputation/career in the NFL. Then they shook hands.

The trooper was fired last week because of the systems check snafu and was accused of not being honest. For this, he lost his career.

The trooper and his family are close friends of ours and have been for years. Our children grew up and went to school together as their children are doing now. Watching them suffer through this ordeal has had an effect on us all. Is there a racial-bias involved? No, I think not. Many of the trooper’s friends are of color and so are ours. Toles and his work with the youth of our area is to be commended. But he above all should build a working relationship with law enforcement and the youth of his organization so they understand and know what is expected of them to succeed in and build a better society.

We cannot allow ourselves to forget about Trooper Allen and the meritorious service he willingly gave for this community, this country and us. We should thank him and each and every individual who reports for duty in law enforcement putting his or her life on the line to protect you, this community and me.

MARY JANE WILSON

Mother of a police officer

Lordstown