Trumbull union rep says arbitrator will find cop did nothing wrong

Staff report

WARREN

A union representative for fired Trumbull County Jail corrections officer Ryan Tolone says he’s confident an arbitrator will determine in the coming months that Tolone “did nothing wrong.”

Max Rieker of the Ohio Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association said binding arbitration set for Aug. 21 is likely to produce a decision by sometime in October as to the merits of Tolone’s appeal of his firing.

“I feel confident when this is over, it will be determined that Mr. Tolone did nothing wrong,” Rieker said.

Tolone was terminated by the sheriff’s office in early June, after an investigation into a finding by the Ohio State Highway Patrol that Tolone had the drug buprenorphine in his body when he hit and killed pedestrian Emily Huffman, 45, of Liberty, along Belmont Avenue in Liberty on Jan. 28.

Tolone was driving his personal vehicle while off duty at the time of the crash.

One of the trade names for buprenorphine is Suboxone, which most commonly is used to treat addiction to opioid drugs such as heroin or oxycodone.

The sheriff’s office said the internal-affairs investigation looked at whether Tolone violated departmental policies requiring a doctor to provide a letter indicating an employee fit for duty if he or she is using various drugs.

The sheriff’s office has declined to elaborate on whether Tolone provided such a letter.

The Girard prosecutor, Michael Bloom, declined to charge Tolone with a crime. Bloom said Tolone did not provide him with a prescription for the drug.