Former Vermilion police captain’s appeal wraps up

VERMILION — The Civil Service Commission must decide whether former police captain Michael Reinheimer was terminated because he failed to follow department rules or whether there was a plot to get rid of him because of his pro-marijuana views. A decision is expected in two to three weeks.

Michael Reinheimer

The commission wrapped up Reinheimer’s appeal proceedings Saturday after the beleaguered captain took the stand and admitted he had made several mistakes for which he deserved discipline.

Those mistakes included wearing a pro-marijuana legalization pin during a police auction and having patrolmen fire rounds of ammunition into a tree rather than at official targets during firearms certifications.

The firearms qualifications Reinheimer had patrolmen undergo as the department’s senior firearms instructor reportedly failed to meet either departmental standards or those established by the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy.

But Reinheimer’s attorney, Joseph Jacobs, said progressive discipline was never doled out, and other officers who committed more serious violations still are employed.

“He hasn’t done anything near serious enough to deserve to be fired,” Jacobs said. “There was no progressive discipline here; it was a 10-day suspension to life, and he got the death sentence.”

Although Reinheimer admitted his actions were wrong, he said his behavior was the result of side  effects from the antidepressant Celexa, which he said caused impulsive and erratic behavior.

Reinheimer said he began taking the antidepressant to ease pressures. Reinheimer, who was suspended in November for wearing a pro-legalization pin at a police auction, said he was unaware of the other infractions until the day before his predisciplinary hearing.

He said when he saw the list of infractions, it led him to stop taking Celexa because he realized his behavior wasn’t normal, and the drug was causing his unusual behavior and poor decisions.

“I was making some questionable decisions,” Reinheimer said.

But during closing statements attorney Susan Anderson, co-counsel in the administration’s case against Reinheimer, said the Celexa defense doesn’t make sense.

Reinheimer only brought up Celexa as an explanation during the predisciplinary hearing and never submitted any medical proof that Celexa actually hampered his ability to properly perform his job, she said.

“He provided no medical support documentation whatsoever, even though he has had ample opportunity to do that,” she said.

One of Reinheimer’s main jobs as a captain was investigating officers within the department for disciplinary reasons. Jacobs said some of the officers who testified against Reinheimer on Friday had previously been disciplined by Reinheimer, and they possibly held grudges.

In particular, Reinheimer had investigated Sgt. Aaron Bolton for use of excessive force after an incident in which the sergeant was accused of punching a man who was handcuffed in the back of a police cruiser.

Bolton was among the officers who testified Friday that Reinheimer’s mounting troubles led officers to believe they couldn’t trust him or respect his leadership, especially after he was charged with driving under suspension in July.

Reinheimer also was responsible for the suspension of Cpl. Dan Shupe, who reportedly had showed up at a firing range under the influence of alcohol, and for the suspension of Patrolman Dale Reising, who reportedly broke into Reinheimer’s office in 2014 to steal the keys to a police cruiser he wasn’t authorized to use.

It was Reinheimer who investigated these officers, Jacobs said, and it was the officers who secretly conspired to find a way to remove him from the department.

“The person who is investigating everyone is the first person put on the target list when he does something wrong,” Jacobs said.

Jacobs said the tipping point came when Reinheimer wore the pro-marijuana pin. City officials and others in the department were enraged over the backlash the city received when Reinheimer was suspended for wearing it, Jacobs said. Hundreds of calls were received and the negative reaction was immense, he said.

“This was personal for the officers, political for the mayor and he was punished disproportionately for making a political statement,” Jacobs said. “All of that makes this a wrongful termination and obviously a major civil rights violation.”

Anderson asked the commission not to buy into claims that there is a conspiracy against Reinheimer orchestrated by people with personal vendettas.

She said the commission needs to see through Reinheimer’s excuses and drill down to what brought everyone to the hearing in the first place.

Reinheimer violated direct orders of the police chief, she said, by failing to properly certify police officers for firearms and failing to follow other protocols.

Anderson added that two of the firearms certification incidents happened in 2011, meaning Reinheimer can’t use Celexa as an excuse for his behavior because he wasn’t on the drug then.

She said Reinheimer was given a second chance after his suspension for driving without a license or insurance and trying to use his position to influence the deputy who pulled him over to let him drive home.

“That was his second chance, and he vowed to uphold the laws and be a good officer upon his return,” she said. “Most people upon return from suspension as a captain of a police department would have toed the line.”

Instead, she said Reinheimer pushed the mayor’s buttons on the marijuana issue and blatantly ignored department policy numerous times.

Reinheimer said he supports the legalization of marijuana because his wife has epilepsy and he believes certain derivatives of marijuana can help her.

“What is going to help her is not smoking marijuana or cannabis,” he said. “What will help her is CBD (cannabidiol) oil derived from cannabis.”

He said the pin he wore at the police auction was actually given to him that day by an Amherst resident who is part of a marijuana legalization group who came to the auction to buy a confiscated grow light.

The city administration called those upset over Reinheimer’s suspension for wearing the marijuana pin “crazies,” Jacobs said, which is proof the city has no room for views contrary to the ones held by the administration.

City and police officials looked for any reason they could find to justify Reinheimer’s termination and downplay the fact that it was based on his desire to see marijuana legalized.

“In the end, they determined Mike was one of those crazies when he wore that pin,” Jacobs said. “That got him kicked out of the club.

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