Posted on 01/11/2012 7:34:45 AM PST by TSgt
A city police officer at the center of a controversial traffic stop involving a man with a permit to carry a concealed handgun has been fired.
Bill Adams, president of the Canton Police Patrolmen’s Association, the union that represents Patrolman Daniel Harless, confirmed that city Safety Director Thomas Ream ruled that Harless is no longer a member of the city’s police force.
Ream issued a three-page ruling dated Tuesday.
“It is quite clear that (Harless’) actions represented a pattern of behavior where inappropriate verbal abuse and threats of death or great bodily harm of the various complainants occurred,” Ream wrote.
“This escalating pattern of potentially dangerous behavior cannot be justified or excused and clearly illustrates the seriousness of the departmental infractions.”
Harless plans to appeal the decision, Adams said.
Harless was accused of violating police department rules during the June 8 traffic stop during which police cruiser video shows Harless berating and threatening a man pulled over around 1:30 a.m. on Newton Avenue NW.
Harless unleashed a flurry of profanities at the driver, shouting he should have gunned down the driver, William E. Barlett, for being stupid.
The cruiser video went viral after it captured the attention of Ohioans for Concealed Carry, which posted the video online.
The police department’s internal affairs division launched an investigation, examining Harless’ behavior during the June 8th arrest and two unrelated traffic stops, each captured on a police cruiser dash camera.
In the June 8 stop, he was accused of violating the department’s rules and regulations for cooperation with the public, deportment and treatment of persons in custody. For that, he faced being suspended or fired.
Harless was placed on medical leave and other officers donated their sick days to him when his paid sick-leave time ran out.
The union had asked for an extension for the disciplinary hearing due to Harless being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
“Obviously, it’s an unfortunate set of circumstances that transpired,” Adams said. “We feel that due to the fact that (Harless) has PTSD, that nobody realized it for eight-plus years, for it to come to light the way it did ... this is not a way we wanted this to play out. PTSD is obviously a disease.”
Adams said that the incident that sparked the disease occurred in 2003 when a suspect nearly bit off Harless’ finger while trying to get the officer’s gun.
“Here’s a guy who was in a life-and-death situation,” Adams said, adding that since the June 8 incident came to light, Harless has been diagnosed several times with PTSD.
“Most people that have a bad day on their job can go home, put their legs up and relax,” Adams said. “We can go home from our jobs in a body bag or with a serious physical injury from the hospital.”
He noted the recent incident in which Officer Tim Marks was brutally attacked by a suspect.
“It affects people in different ways. Unfortunately, (Harless) had PTSD, and it wasn’t realized for eight years. Unfortunately, he was fired, and we will address that situation at a later time.”
If being “good” means doing the right thing, even when it costs you, then “good cops” are almost non-existent.
Which is precisely why I WOULD NEVER TRUST or BELIEVE anything a Police Officer in Amerika says, they are all corrupt in my opinion for this very reason, Time and Time again we see entire Police Departments STAND IN UNITY FOR A COMMON CRIMINAL because he or she has a Badge. Needless to say this TERRORIST BELONGS IN PRISON FOR LIFE, Yes I said Terrorist, Anybody else would be charged with “Making Criminal Terrorist Threats” Canton citizens need to FIRE THE ENTIRE DEPARTMENT and the Politicians in charge, then A new DA could file Charges against ALL OF THEM for their Conspiracy against the citizenry of Canton, Ohio. They are all accomplices and should all be treated as such.
Let’s see . . . June, July, August, September, October, November, December and finally January . . . only 8 months to decide to fire this out of control LEO. Where I work behavior like this will get you fired right there right then.
It can't be that obvious if Harless could have it for eight years and only have it "discovered" when his ass is in a sling....
Am I the only person who saw the video of him going nuts TEN years ago. That predates his BS claim of PTSD.
Yeah....the GD sheep just wouldn't go back to grazing, so they actually had to DO something.
You said it. so many people say there are only a few bad apples, and ignore the “good cops” who enable the bad cops by keeping their mouths shut. Good cops don’t do that.
That depends on weather or not you have freedom of speech or not. Just words, tirade your head off no harm done. Put actions behind those words then there's a case.
THIS is the kind of guy LEO’s circle the waggons around, donate sick days to, and think should still have a badge and a gun and a position of grave responsibility in the community.
Doesn't speak well of any of them.
wheres the WAAAAAAAAAmbulance ???
instead of being charged and tried, this POS will soon re-locate to a small town, get a new badge, and become a danger to another citizen...
He scared me too and I am nowhere near Canton. There are at least 2 other videos of Harless being violent. Glad he is fired, but what about his partner? His partner should have tried to reign him in and didn’t.
Did he call him a chickenf***er?
This guy has menstrual periods??
I don’t care what the guy’s problem is. His behaviour should have set off the alarm bells at HQ immediately. He should have been gone a long time ago.
How about Dirty Harry?;)
I guarantee you the reason the "Police force took their time" was so they could tiptoe around the union!
Well, it manifests itself in different ways, Different people are affected differently blah blah blah, etc etc etc, take the psychobabble and bend it whichever way you'd like.
*IF* (and I did, in my original post, say 'if') the guy is suffering from it, then he needs help. I've seen the effects of PTSD, and they're lousy. He also needs to have his badge and gun taken away, immediately.
But, you're right. After 8 years, this smells funny.
Wouldn’t surprise me. I know that it’s damn near impossible to get fired from a Gov’t job. I can’t imagine how hard it is to get fired from a UNIONIZED government job.
I missed the officers donating sick time. They are endorsing his behavior. Canton PD better be on a watch.
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