Two Columbus Police officers were fired on Thursday while two others have been suspended. It all stems from the illegal 2018 arrest of Stormy Daniels.
The decicision was handed down today after the city launched an internal investigation last year under new Police Chief Tom Quinlin.
Officer Whitney Lancaster and Steven Rosser are set to be terminated after they demonstrated “gross neglect of duty and incompetence” in Daniels’ July 2018 arrest.
“The actions taken at Sirens regarding Stephanie Clifford (aka Stormy Daniels) deviated significantly from actions at every other strip club investigated by you,” a filing by the city reads. “This arrest was not like any other strip club investigations because in the other strip club investigations, all charges were filed at a later time, or the offender was released on a summons. Not a single other suspect was deprived of their rights by being arrsted “On View” and taken to the Franklin County Jail for slating, except Ms. Clifford demonstrating gross neglect of duty and incompetence.”
Pettus also recommended a suspension of 240 hours for Ronald Kemmerling and a suspension of 120 hours for Scott Soha, two supervisors who oversaw the now defunct-VICE squad .
On July 12, 2018, Daniels was arrested at Sirens Strip Club in the undercover sting operation by VICE. She was accused her of “fondling” the undercover police officers in violation of an Ohio strip club law. She retained Columbus defense lawyer Chase Mallory, who worked with prosecutors to dismiss the charges less than 12 hours later, saying that the law did not apply to out-of-town performers.
Last year, Daniels settled a $2.5 million lawsuit filed against the city for false arrest for $450,000.
The Guardian’s sister publication, the Advocate, was the first to break the news that the arrest was pre-planned after a series of emails were given to the Advocate by a whistleblower inside the police department.
