Nites gets 3 months off duty, no pay

Nites gets 3 months off duty, no pay

By ED RUNYAN

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

WARREN — A police officer who coached and watched his kids in basketball games on city time in January, February and March has signed an agreement that gives him back his rank and pay as a sergeant — but takes him off duty the next three months without pay and benefits.

Sgt. Emanuel Nites, who was demoted to patrolman for a month leading up to the agreement, will be off work until Dec. 7, the agreement says. His 90-day suspension began Monday.

Nites, an 18-year veteran of the department, appealed his punishment from Chief Tim Bowers — demotion, $3.35 an hour less in pay, and 10 days unpaid suspension — and was scheduled for a hearing on the matter Tuesday.

The agreement canceled that hearing, to have been conducted by Doug Franklin, Warren safety service director, but it required him to testify at hearings for three supervisers.

Sgt. Michael Albanese was suspended for five days, Sgt. Dan Mason was suspended for 20 days, and Lt. Eric Merkel was suspended for 10 days for falsifying time sheets for Nites. Grievance hearings were Tuesday afternoon on that punishment.

Bowers said Mason is the only one of the three who appeared personally for his hearing. A union representative also attended. None of the three disputed the allegations against them, only the severity of the punishment, Bowers said.

Franklin has 15 days to decide whether to modify the officers’ punishment.

Nites’ agreement dismisses administrative charges that were due to be filed last week against him for calling off sick July 31, the night before he coached his son in a baseball tournament game in southern Ohio.

The pact, known as a “Last Chance Agreement,” says if Nites has any serious employment violation within the next two years, he may be fired at the discretion of the city with limited appeal rights.

For Bowers, the agreement accomplishes several goals: It resolves the issue without further legal challenges, it punishes Nites, and it has the potential to correct Nites’ bad behavior, Bowers said.

The first line of the agreement contains a statement from Nites that says he “acknowledges his guilt in being absent without leave, failing to report to roll call and conducting private business while on duty.”

“That’s huge,” Bowers said. “It’s the first time he admits he wasn’t following the rules.”

On 14 dates, Nites either showed up late for work or left work to coach his son’s basketball team or watch his daughter’s high school basketball team.

The absences caused him to miss the start of his shift, including the part known as roll call, eight times.

In all, he missed 22 hours of work for which he was paid $831. He will repay that amount to the city and will lose about $13,114 in pay over three months. His badge, gun, health care, retirement and other benefits have also been taken away for three months, Bowers said.

In all, the agreement costs Nites about $20,000, Bowers said.

Conversely, the punishment the city gave him earlier would have cost him $2,732 in suspension pay and about $7,000 per year in reduced income because of his pay rate dropping from $27.32 per hour to $23.97. He also would have lost his benefits for 10 days.

“We need a new start. We need to get this behind us,” Bowers said of why he supports the agreement, adding that Nites is viewed as a valuable “go-to guy” by his immediate supervisers. Bowers said he believes Nites will be a valuable employee again.

“In the end, any time somebody owns up to their own bad behavior, it’s a win-win,” he said.

runyan@vindy.com