Ohio Officer Drives Drunk, Uses Dispatcher to Avoid Colleagues, and Helps Friend in Domestic Violence Case . . . Given Full Reinstatement to the Police Force With Back Pay

Warren County Deputy Troy Lauffer was fired after he was found to have driven drunk and then used the police dispatcher to find out the location of his colleagues to avoid his colleagues on patrol. He was then accused of hampering an investigation into a domestic violence case by giving a friend a ride to get away from his house after his wife called the police. One would think that was enough to end a police career, but not in Warren County, Lauffer is back policing other citizens after being returned to work. Not only that but the county will have to pay Lauffer for some of his lost time.

To his credit, Sheriff Larry Sims has fought the reinstatement. However, Magistrate Andrew Hasselbach of Warren County Common Pleas court upheld an arbitrator’s decision in favor of Lauffer.

Now, here’s the added kicker: the sheriff pointed out that arbitrator Mollie Bowers had failed to consider the fact that Lauffer had been disciplined SEVEN times before.

Hasselbach agreed with the ruling: “Unquestionably, Lauffer’s actions violated both law and public policy. But the issue is whether a specific term of the collective bargaining agreement violates public policy, not whether the conduct for which the employee was disciplined violated some public policy or law.” Well, that must be some collective bargaining agreement where an officer can violate both the law and public policy and get reinstatement with back pay.

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