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Lawsuits filed against Warren police, schools
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
A Niles man has filed a lawsuit in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court over a bite he said he suffered because a police dog employed by the Warren Police Department bit him.
Derek Rieser of Taft Avenue said he was at the Youngstown-Road car dealership Toyota of Warren in August 2012 when Warren police officer Greg Coleman allowed his canine partner Maxx to get out of Coleman’s police cruiser unleashed, while Coleman was working security.
That’s when Maxx bit Rieser on the arm, the lawsuit said. Coleman hit Maxx while giving him verbal commands to release Rieser, the suit said.
Rieser seeks damages of at least $225,000 for the “substantial bodily injuries” and emotional distress he suffered.
The lawsuit names as defendants Coleman, the city and its police department. It says Coleman was negligent and the city and police department are liable.
Atty. Kara A. Stanford of Niles filed the lawsuit.
Warren Police Chief Eric Merkel said he had no comment on the suit.
Meanwhile, a second former Warren City Schools administrator has filed legal action in common pleas court accusing the former Warren superintendent of terminating the person’s employment because of racial bias.
Angela Desai, now of Tennessee, was human-resources director from 2009 to June 30, 2013. She is of Indian descent.
But after Michael Notar became superintendent in August 2012, he “took away all of Desai’s job responsibilities and authority and gave them to unqualified white and/or male employees,” the lawsuit says.
Notar told Desai in October 2012 she would be terminated at the end of 2012, though he rescinded that decision later in the year.
The lawsuit says Notar took away most of Desai’s job responsibilities when she returned from family leave in January 2013 and refused to allow her to take another family leave. She filed a discrimination complaint with the Ohio Civil Rights Commission in February 2013, the lawsuit says.
On March 19, 2013, the board of education fired Desai, effective June 30, 2013, for financial reasons, the suit says.
The suit seeks at least $125,000 in punitive and compensatory damages.
The suit was filed by Atty. Frank Consolo of Cleveland, the same attorney who filed a lawsuit brought against Notar and the school board in early August by another former school administrator, John L. Crawford, who is black.
Notar, who is now superintendent at the Conneaut Local Schools in Ashtabula County, could not be reached to comment. A call seeking comment from Steve Chiaro, who became superintendent in early August, was not returned.