Arbitrator reduces penalty against Youngstown cop
YOUNGSTOWN — An arbirator last week reduced the penalty for a city patrolman from 15 days to four hours for his role in the decision not to charge the brother of a ranking police officer with OVI in November.
Arbitrator Langdon Bell issued his ruling May 20 after a hearing March 30, in which Patrolman Thomas Wisener appealed his suspension for filing a false report for a traffic stop Nov. 28 in which he pulled over Joseph Slattery, brother of Lt. Gerard Slattery, who is head of the Vice Squad.
Wisener is one of four officers who were disciplined for the stop and the failure to file OVI charges against Joseph Slattery. An Internal Affairs Division report of the stop released in December showed that after Joseph Slattery was taken to the police station for his test, he called his brother, who was off duty, to pick him up. Gerard Slattery then asked who was giving his brother a citation and was told it was Wisener. He then called then Lt. John Kelty, who was the officer on duty, and voiced his displeasure with Wisener. He later yelled at another officer who allowed the car to be towed. The report said Gerard Slattery went to the tow yard and picked up his brother’s car without paying the tow fee.
Slattery was suspended 10 days for his role in the case and Kelty was demoted from lieutenant to patrolman. The other officer lost four hours of vacation time.
Bell wrote in his ruling he found it hard to understand how Wisener could be given the longest suspension of those officers involved in the case.