Campbell cop fired over interaction with student

Staff report

CAMPBELL

Officer Russell Beatty III was fired for the “very poor choices” he made while serving as the district’s school-resource officer, the Campbell Police Department announced Friday.

Those choices were revealed in the results of a months-long investigation through the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Police Chief Drew Rauzan said in a statement. Rauzan noted that while the investigation produced no findings of criminal conduct, it did show that “regardless of what a dutiful police officer Beatty was, he can no longer work with the Campbell Police Department.”

The BCI investigation began in December after allegations of possible misconduct involving a minor student, and is ongoing. An Aug. 21 letter from Campbell Mayor William J. VanSuch terminated Beatty’s employment due to his “acts of misfeasance, malfeasance, misconduct and conduct unbecoming a police officer.”

“This is a very unfortunate set of circumstances that the Campbell Police Department has put behind us,” Rauzan said in the statement.

Read more about the situation in Saturday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.