Cop Who Was Fired and Rehired Could Cost Columbus, Ohio, Millions Over Feud With Brother

Peter Paul Reubens

Columbus, Ohio, has a cop on the force whose feud with his brother—while out sick he's coordinated other cops to serve a protection order against him, he's gotten an arrest warrant issued against his brother, and he's threatened to put a bullet in him and secretly bury him—has brought them to court and could cost the city millions. Tommy Tarini, brother of Sgt. Steve Tarini, is suing Columbus and its police department in federal court, accusing the city of not taking the threats against him posed by his brother seriously.

Columbus has tried to get rid of Tarini before. The Columbus Dispatch reports:

On at least two occasions, police and court records show, Steve has wielded police powers in a family feud that has recently spilled over into a federal lawsuit against the Columbus Division of Police.

City records show that Steve has been investigated for lying, not showing up to work, leaving early and not following orders. In some cases, he was given a written reprimand or suspended. Once, the city fired him, but an arbitrator gave him his job back.

Another problem cop who could end up costing taxpayers millions getting his job back because of the privileges enshrined in law for "public servants."

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

Once, the city fired him, but an arbitrator gave him his job back.

Who are these arbitrators?

[Libertarian]

Good question. Do they EVER uphold a firing?

[Jordan]

Funny how you never hear of whistleblower cops (like the one in Mobile, AL) having their job reinstated.

[Pro Libertate]

Oh, sure. If the firing involves a bullet shooting out of a police firearm, anyway.

[Andrew S.]

People who don't generally want to be harassed by angry police officers, I'd guess.

[ant1sthenes]

And more to the point, why can't they be considered liable for the cops' actions?

[Almanian!]

"He ain't heavy. He's my [dead] brother."

[Pro Libertate]

That's The Columbus, Ohio. Jesus, what's wrong with you people?

[Citizen Nothing]

Hey. That's my line.

[Pro Libertate]

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you The Citizen Nothing.

[Citizen Nothing]

Steve was placed on the Police Division's dishonest-cop list in 2012 after an internal investigation found that he lied about taking photos of the buttocks of a man he had shot with a stun gun.

[Hyperion]

When you have a public job where the people who are most drawn towards it are violent sociopaths, then this isn't too surprising at all, we'll probably be seeing a lot more stuff like this.

I used to work with a lady whose x was a cop. She said he was he was always coming to her house and harassing her and threatening to get violent and claimed she was scared. She apparently called the cops on him several times and they would show up and basically act like it was a joke and they would never do anything to the guy. At the time I didn't really believe her, but I now wonder if she wasn't telling the truth.

[Citizen Nothing]

The most amazing thing about that story is that there is a "dishonest cop" list that is not identical to the "fired and barred from ever being a cop again" list.

[wareagle]

I was going to say something similar. That a city would have such a list, it's just a level of derp I cannot comprehend.

[Hyperion]

I think the fact that in this society you have a high paying publicly funded job that you cannot be fired from and that you can do anything you want to, including killing people, just for the hell of it, with no possible consequences is really asking for big trouble. But apparently, our so called leaders don't see a problem. Must just be my paranoia imagination.

[Ted S.]

If Tommy killed Steve in cold blood in the public square, and I were governor, I'd actually think seriously about pardoning Tommy, although I'd ultimately reject it for the terrible precedent it would set.

[Ted S.]

The city probably does have some liability, but since they tried to fire him on at least one occasion they have less liability than the arbitrator who reinstated him, or the police union that agitated to get the firing overtuned. Not that either of those two entities will we made to pay. 🙁

[LarryA]

Wouldn't it be lovely, though, to see a union sued for keeping a bad cop on the job?

[Reverend Draco]

End him.

Problem solved.