From left, Carlton Walls, Chad Nave and Edwin MillanCleveland police scandals
› Sept. 16: Cleveland police officer Edwin Millan arrested and charged with arson and insurance fraud.› Aug. 19: Sgt. Eddie Bonnett was placed on administrative leave after a female officer complained to her supervisor that Bonnett, her shift sergeant, texted an “inappropriate” photo from his personal cellphone to hers.› Aug. 7: Officers Carlton Walls and Chad Nave are placed on administrative leave to investigate allegations of extramarital sex and a woman’s accusation that she was sexually assaulted July 31 at a rented cabin in Gatlinburg.› June: Lt. Steve Tyson and Officer Jeffrey Griggs’ demotions and reassignments upheld for policy violations related to investigation of ex-Chief Dennis Maddux’s affair with Griggs’ wife.› May: Maddux submits retirement letter after internal affairs investigators said he lied about the relationship and events involving Cindy Griggs.› February: Officer Jeff Griggs finds his wife and Maddox trysting in a car across the county line in Calhoun, Tenn.› January 2014: Longtime Chief Wes Snyder retires after surveillance video showed him meeting a woman at a warehouse storage unit fitted out with a rug, blankets and a bottle of brandy.› July 2013: Former Officer Ross Wooten is suspended and later resigns over the third allegation of sexual misconduct since he joined the department in 2004. The woman also sued him in federal court.› May 2013: Sgt. Bill Higdon is terminated for repeated policy violations two months after suggestive texts and explicit photos from him turn up on the phone of a high-dollar prostitute whose death by gunshot was ruled a suicide.› December 2011: Snyder claims there was no evidence to investigate allegations of that officers were giving pills and alcohol to teenage girls and having sex with them before one officer shot and wounded another in December 2008. An investigation led to the imprisonment of Officers Dennis Hughes and Nathan Thomas on charges of having sex with 14- and 16-year-old girls.
CLEVELAND, Tenn. - One day after the firing of three Cleveland police officers, the City Council voted to hire two out-of-town attorneys to play key roles in the city's newly adopted employee disciplinary appeals process.
On Thursday, the Cleveland City Council voted 6-0 in a special-called session to hire Chattanooga attorney Mark Travis to hear employee appeals of disciplinary actions and to hire Nashville attorney Gregory Grisham to represent the city in such matters. Grisham, a workplace law specialist, is currently assisting the city with a comprehensive review and overhaul of its personnel policies.
The attorney hirings were approved one day after Cleveland police officers Carlton Walls, Chad Nave and Edwin Millan were fired. The officers have until this afternoon to appeal their terminations, said Chief Mark Gibson, who was sworn in Sept. 28.
If an employee requests an appeal hearing within two days of a disciplinary action, the city has 10 days to schedule the hearing, said City Manager Janice Casteel in a recent discussion with the City Council. However, the hearing does not necessarily have to occur within that 10-day period, she said.
Gibson addressed the firings of Walls, Nave and Millan in a statement released Thursday.
"I found no other disciplinary alternative other than termination," Gibson said, citing "an egregious failure" to uphold the police department's "high standards of a code of ethics."
Nave and Walls were placed on leave in early August and investigated by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation over allegations that they had extramarital affairs with two women they met in the line of duty. One woman had filed a domestic abuse report and the other was a participant in a police ride-along program.
Millan was arrested on Sept. 16, charged by a Bradley County grand jury with insurance fraud over $10,000, conspiracy to commit insurance fraud and filing a false report, according to Stephen Crump, district attorney for the 10th Judicial District.
The firings of the three officers occurred within two days of a 7-0 vote by the Cleveland City Council to change city personnel policy concerning employee appeals of separations and disciplinary actions.
The previous, long-standing version of the appeals policy is being challenged by employees who say they were denied due process when the city manager both imposed their discipline and then acted as hearing officer for their appeals.
Earlier this year, Chancellor Jerri S. Bryant ruled in favor of a former firefighter who alleged his termination violated his due process and other rights.
This summer, police Lt. Steve Tyson and Officer Jeffrey Griggs pursued legal action to challenge the city's disciplinary process, claiming it was unfair for Casteel to both serve as their disciplinarian and their disciplinary appeals officer. Their case is still pending.
Paul Leach is based in Cleveland. Email him at paul.leach.press@gmail.com.