Penalty reduced to 4 hours for officer involved in OVI stop of boss's brother

YOUNGSTOWN

An arbirator reduced the penalty for a city patrolman from 15 days' suspension 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 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.

Wisener wrote up a report, instead giving Joseph Slattery a citation for having an open container of alcohol in the car he pulled over on the West Side.

Gerard Slattery was suspended 10 days for his role in the case and Kelty was demoted from lieutenant to patrolman. The other officer, Assad Chaibi, lost four hours of vacation time.

Police Chief Robin Lees said the law department is considering appealing the ruling.

Read more about the case in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.