CINCINNATI -- City Manager Harry Black's late-night phone call to a union president won't lead to any criminal charges.
Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters announced Monday that his office reviewed Cincinnati Police Sgt. Dan Hils' complaint and found no charges were appropriate.
Hils, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Local 69, recorded Black's call to him on Oct. 27. He said Black threatened to have him investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice. He also argued that Hils had been “intentionally obstructing” the process of the Citizen Complaint Authority, an independent body that reviews allegations of misconduct against officers.
Listen to the call in the player below:
Hils said the 10-minute phone call, which came around 11:40 p.m., was “meant for intimidation.” He originally reported Black's call as harassment to the Loveland Police Department. Loveland police said they weren't sure whether a crime occurred and referred the report to Deters' office.
City spokesman Rocky Merz said Black called Hils in an attempt to find an agreement before the FOP and Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office filed for a temporary restraining order against the Citizen Complaint Authority, also known as the CCA.
In a statement, Black said he was concerned a motion for a temporary restraining order was "without precedent and outside the normal administrative process."
"Additionally, I was concerned because of the potential to unravel a critical tenant of the Collaborative Agreement that the City, FOP and the community entered into years ago," Black said.
The case involved Cincinnati police officers who responded to a domestic situation at a home. Two men refused to leave the home after the police officers arrived, and according to court records, they fought with the officers. One of the officers stunned one of the men with a Taser. After the incident, a complaint was filed with the CCA. In a statement, Deters said his only goal in filing a motion for a temporary restraining order was so the criminal case would not be affected.
There's still a formal union grievance against Black: Hils wrote that as a member of the FOP wage committee, he should "be free from coercion, intimidation, discrimination, transfers, threats or other detrimental action."
Dan Hils grievance by WCPO Web Team on Scribd
