The proposed demotion and additional discipline of a popular local police officer has sparked concern in Yellow Springs, including a protest last weekend.

A pre-disciplinary hearing for Cpl. David Meister will take place this Friday, June 29, at 1 p.m. in the Bryan Center. Clerk of Courts Judy Kintner will serve as the hearing officer at the event. The hearing is closed to the public.

Meister requested the hearing after a two-months-long investigation found that he acted improperly during two March traffic stops, according to a memo from Chief Brian Carlson to Meister on May 25. The hearing, which Meister could have waived, provides Meister the right to respond to the investigation findings and to present mitigating evidence.

According to the memo from Carlson, the investigation found that Meister’s actions during the two traffic stops, “deviated from our policy for possible OVI violations and that most importantly his actions could have resulted in harm to the general public and or the offender.”

Chief Carlson recommended that Meister be demoted from corporal to officer; that he receive a three-day suspension without pay; that he be put on a performance improvement plan with a last-chance agreement, and that he be put on probation for 12 months. 

Carlson last week emphasized that Meister is not being fired.  However, according to attorney Duwell, the concern is that if the performance plan is imposed, the Village could easily fire him at a later time.

Meister feels the proposed discipline is excessive given the charges and that it’s being imposed unfairly, according to Duwell, who emphasized that while Chief Carlson has been an advocate for his officers having discretion when making arrests, he seems to most often question decisions by Meister.

“Having been given discretion, it seems Cpl. Meister’s decisions are challenged more frequently than those of other officers,” Duwell said in an interview Monday.

Incidents in question

According to a memo from Carlson to Meister dated May 24, the discipline is linked to two traffic stops that took place March 1 and March 14 of this year. According to the memo, “both vehicle drivers were repeat offenders, under suspension and possibly intoxicated.” 

The incident reports and dash-cam videos for the traffic stops and Meister’s personnel file were not made available by press time. Carlson also said he can’t comment on specifics of the incidents.

However, according to Duwell, in one incident Meister stopped a local woman who was driving while under suspension and had previous OVI arrests. While a review of the incident showed that she might have been intoxicated, the woman said she had not been drinking, and she did not appear impaired to Meister. Because she was driving while under suspension, he had her car towed away, as is required by departmental policy, then gave her a ride home.

In the second incident, he stopped a car that was driving at night without lights. While the young male driver was clearly intoxicated, Meister chose to not charge him with an OVI, partly because he knew the young man was already dealing with a serious family crisis. Rather, he took the keys to the car and required the young man to walk the block to his house.

In the second case, according to Duwell, Meister was criticized because he had not charged the driver with an OVI and allowed him to walk home; in the first case he did not further his investigation to see if the woman was impaired.

“He is being charged with being too lenient,” Duwell said this week. 

However, Carlson emphasized that the larger issue is community safety. 

“This is more of a safety concern in the totality of the events, not just in the moment,” Carlson said. “We’re set up to get people help and not put them back behind the wheel.”

In a response this week, Meister said he does not agree with being punished for his approach.

“I feel I have done the appropriate thing for the people involved at the time, with my community in mind,” he said in an interview Tuesday. 

Meister said he cares a great deal about community safety, and having had an uncle die from a crash with a drunk driver, he understands the gravity of the situation.

“I don’t diminish the seriousness of having an impaired driver,” he said.

Meister also emphasized what he feels is an unfair focus on him.

“Officers making similar decisions are treated differently,” he said. “I see safety issues happen, but no other officer has been disciplined in this way.”

Hearing soon

A pre-disciplinary hearing is considered an essential part of the due process of a government employee prior to discipline being imposed. At the hearing, Meister has the opportunity to hear the charges against him and to offer evidence on his own behalf, according to attorney Conard.

Yellow Springs Clerk of Council Judy Kintner will serve as the hearing officer at this Friday’s pre-disciplinary hearing. Village Manager Patti Bates chooses the hearing officer, who is required to be a Village employee not in the employee’s chain of command, and someone who has supervisory responsibilities. Duwell and Meister turned down the Village’s first choice for hearing officer, Ruthe Anne Lillich, who is administrative assistant to Village Manager Patti Bates and the Village human resources officer. Duwell registered concern over the pick due to what Meister perceived as Lillich’s bias against him, and Kintner was selected instead.

Kintner will determine if misconduct occurred, according to Village Solicitor Conard, and Bates will make the final decision on discipline.

If Meister does not accept the hearing outcome, his next option is to go through the court system, Duwell said.

“If my client wants to fight, we will fight this,” he said.

However, Duwell said last week, he is hopeful that the two sides can resolve the issue.

“I still hope that everything will be worked out,” he said.

Protest supports Meister

About 25 villagers showed up on Saturday, June 23, at noon at the Bryan Center, to protest what they see as unjust discipline on Meister. Protestors then walked through downtown carrying signs in support of Meister.

“It’s important that Village leaders hear from those of us who are distressed and confused” about the situation, said Gilah Pomeranz, who attended.

In a written statement to Village Manager Bates and Carlson, Pomeranz stated, “As a native Yellow Springer who has lived her entire life in this village, I see Dave Meister as a quintessential, valuable and beloved Officer, in the tradition of some of our best — Chief McKee, Hugh Livingston, Al Pierce, John Winks and Chief Grote, to name just a few. Dave’s love for and commitment to our community resonates with me in all my interactions with him, whether he is on the job, next to me in the pews at First Presbyterian, or we’re just chatting in Tom’s or Current Cuisine and the Little Art.”

Meister is the only full-time Yellow Springs police officer who lives in Yellow Springs. He and his wife, Zo, have four children. The couple moved here, where Zo grew up, after living a decade in the Pacific Northwest. He took a job in the local department in 2010, and was one of three finalists for the position of chief in 2017. In January of this year, he was promoted to the newly created position of corporal.

To First Presbyterian Church pastor Aaron Saari, it doesn’t make sense to discipline Meister for the compassionate and less punitive approach to policing that most villagers seem to prefer.

“Dave to me represents the sort of officer a majority of Yellow Springs seems to want,” he said this week.

An advocate for those with mental health issues, Saari is especially appreciative of Meister’s skill in dealing with those who struggle with mental illness.

“He does tremendous work with those with mental health issues,” he said.

Another villager who attended last Saturday’s protest, Kate Anderson, also questioned why Meister was being disciplined.

“Dave seems to be being punished for the kind of community policing that villagers want,” Anderson said. “Why would you punish him for doing what we’ve asked him to do?”

In a letter to the News this week, Village Council President Brian Housh emphasized the complexity of the demands of community policing, as practiced in Yellow Springs.

“Chief Carlson, Manager Bates and Village Council do not take any disciplinary decision lightly,” Housh wrote. “The Village expects its officers to protect villagers and visitors. If any officer is found to have acted in a manner that is inconsistent with this paramount duty, that officer may and should be subject to discipline.”

Last Friday’s pre-disciplinary hearing for Yellow Springs Police Corporal Dave Meister was postponed in hopes that lawyers representing Meister and the Village could reach a compromise agreement regarding discipline against Meister for two March incidents, recommended by Yellow Springs Police Chief Brian Carlson. While Village Solicitor Chris Conard made a compromise offer to Meister’s attorney, David Duwell, this Monday, July 2, Meister on Tuesday said he will not agree to it.

“I cannot in good conscience sign it,” he said in an interview.

The compromise proposal states that Meister agrees that it’s in the village’s best interest that he be demoted from corporal to patrol officer, that he have a one-day unpaid suspension, and that he enter into a 6-month Memorandum of Understanding, or MOU, that requires him to take several Ohio Police Academy classes on dealing with drunk drivers, among other goals. It states that if sufficient progress is not made toward the goals, the department could then terminate Meister. And an additional agreement states that Meister releases the Village from any liability or wrongdoing.

The compromise proposal differed from Carlson’s original proposal in that it eliminated a proposed probationary period, shortened Meister’s unpaid suspension from three days to one day, and shortened a proposed 12-month performance plan to six months.

Since the proposed discipline became public two weeks ago, many villagers have protested that the discipline is too harsh for Meister, a popular nine-year veteran of the department. (See Council story).

Meister said he cannot sign the agreement because he does not believe that it’s in the village’s best interest that he be demoted, nor that the Village be absolved of any wrongdoing. Also, he had requested that a provision be included that protects him from retaliation in the department, and it was not included in the agreement. 

Because he will not agree, the pre-disciplinary hearing is now scheduled to take place on July 12, according to Solicitor Conard this week. Village Clerk of Council Judy Kintner will serve as the hearing officer.

In the first recent incident for which he’s being discipllined, Meister stopped a car driven by a local young man who had a previous OVI (operating a moving vehicle while intoxicated) and appeared intoxicated. Meister took away the young man’s keys and allowed him to walk the block to his house without charging him with a second OVI, partly because he knew the young man was already dealing with a family crisis, Meister said recently. In that incident, according to Chief Carlson, Meister broke departmental policy by allowing an intoxicated person to walk home rather than transporting him. 

In the second incident, Meister stopped a woman who was driving with a suspended license and whose car smelled of alcohol. However, the woman denied having been drinking, although her passenger admitted to doing so. Meister had the car towed and drove the two home, but did not press further to determine if she was, in fact, intoxicated. 

In both incidents, according to attorney Duwell, Meister is being disciplined for being too lenient. And to Meister, he’s being disciplined for practicing the sort of low-key, compassionate policing that villagers say they want.

“I’m doing community policing,” he said.

However, according to Chief Carlson, what’s most important is community safety. Meister should have charged the young man with a second OVI and further investigated whether the woman had been drinking, Carlson said, in order for them to get whatever help is available through the court system.

“How am I helping that person in any way by not charging them?” Carlson said this week. “What about tomorrow?”

Past discipline

In his nearly nine years with the Yellow Springs Police Department, Meister has been disciplined four times before the most recent recommendations, according to his personnel file, obtained by the News through a public records request.

Because past disciplines were cited by Carlson in a May memo as a reason that the current proposed discipline is substantial, the News this week looks at them.

The number itself is significant, Carlson said in a recent interview.

“It’s an extremely high number,” he said, stating that most of the Village’s full-time officers have no disciplinary actions against them.

While Meister doesn’t argue the facts of each situation, he does believe the incidents themselves reflect minor mistakes, and that he’s being targeted for relatively small infractions.

“I’m being treated differently,” he said.

Meister also said he welcomes attention being drawn to his personnel file. 

“There’s nothing there that I’m embarrassed about,” he said. “I took an oath to protect and serve, and I think I’m doing a good job.”

Meister’s file includes three letters of commendation from citizens. Villager Liz Porter commended Meister for his calm response to a frightening situation near her home, as well as his presence in a Nonviolent Communication class.

“…I believe that Officer Meister is exactly the sort of person who should be supported, encouraged and highly valued in his position,” she wrote.

And in a letter supporting Meister when he applied for the position of police chief in 2017, Joan Horn cited an incident she witnessed.

“I was struck by his concern, his willingness to help and his doing so in a thoughtful and humane manner,” she said.

According to Police Chief Carlson, he has no doubt as to Meister’s skills in dealing with people, although those skills are not noted anywhere in the file, where the only two yearly reviews, for 2014 and 2015 by Sergeants Josh Knapp and Naomi Penrod, rate his “relationship with people” skills as satisfactory, or average. However, Carlson believes the recent incidents, along with past discipline, calls into question not Meister’s manner with people, but his judgement.

“Dave is not ready for a supervisory role,” he said of the proposed demotion. “That’s all I’m saying.”

How significant?

Meister was not disciplined during his first four and a half years of employment, beginning in early 2010. The first disciplinary action came in mid-2014, when he was disciplined for speeding and running a red light without the cruiser’s lights and siren turned on when chasing a car. Naomi Penrod, who had earlier that year been promoted to sergeant, was the supervisory officer who brought the situation to the attention of then-Chief Anthony Pettiford. Meister was given a verbal warning.

According to Meister, it’s not unusual for police to sometimes begin a chase without lights and siren, as it may be the only way to get close to the target car. When he tells others in law enforcement about this discipline, he said, they are surprised.

“When I say I was written up for this, people are flabbergasted,” he said. 

But Carlson said that Meister’s mistake in this situation was clear.

“I honestly don’t know the details, but you don’t run a red light without lights and siren,” he said.

Meister’s second discipline followed what he believed was a sighting of Penrod and Pettiford on a motorcycle together late at night. Around 2 a.m. on a Saturday night in August 2014, Meister was fueling his cruiser near Trebein Road in Fairborn when he believed he saw the two police officers, both motorcycle enthusiasts, on a bike together. To identify the bike’s owner, Meister ran the bike’s license plate number using OHLEG, an Ohio police database specified as for use only for work matters.

Meister was already concerned that the two were having an intimate relationship, he said recently, so he brought the alleged sighting to the attention of Village Manager Patti Bates, according to investigation documents.

To Meister, what he perceived as the close relationship between Penrod and Pettiford was harmful to the police department work atmosphere.

Pettiford seemed to favor Penrod, according to Meister. He also communicated little to other employees, most often closing his office doors and staying inside his office.

“There was preferential treatment” to Penrod, Meister said. 

So when Meister thought he spotted the two on a motorcycle late at night, he reported the incident to Bates, although he also admitted that the license plate search indicated that the bike was owned by someone else. Bates asked him to report his concern to Village Solicitor Chris Conard. Not long after, Meister was alerted that he was being investigated for misuse of the database. He was also found guilty of “Improper” behavior for “reporting false information about witnessing two Police Department employees being together in an inappropriate or intimate setting.”

The investigation was conducted by Josh Knapp, the department’s second sergeant, along with Penrod, who has since married and whose married name is Watson. According to the interview report, Penrod was asked if the allegation of her being on a motorcycle was true, and she stated it was not. 

Meister was suspended without pay for one day due to misuse of the data base and improper behavior in reporting the incident. The discipline occurred several months after the incident, and was approved by then-Chief Dave Hale in 2015. Pettiford left his position in September 2014, a month after the incident reported by Meister.

Other discipline

Since that time, Meister believes, Watson, now in a supervisory role over him, has scrutinized him for mistakes in a way she doesn’t scrutinize others. He believes she’s retaliating about his bringing his concern about her relationship with Pettiford to Village authorities, and that, in fact, she said at the time she would do so.

In an interview this week, Watson disagreed with his assessment of the reasons for his discipline.

“That’s in the past,” she said. “I would like to think we’re mature enough to move beyond that.”

In the most recent discipline against Meister prior to this year, Watson brought a complaint against him following an incident in April, 2017. In that discipline, approved by Village Manager Patti Bates during Carlson’s interim period as chief, Meister was found to have exhibited “unsatisfactory work quality” during an incident when a local youth on house arrest was spotted by Watson at the Bryan Center gym as she left work. Because she was leaving the building, she told the dispatcher to alert Meister, who was starting his shift, to make contact with the youth and confirm he was on house arrest.

Meister contacted the juvenile’s mother, who came to the gym to take him home. However, the disciplinary action states that Meister should have contacted the youth’s probation officer, who would likely have sent him to juvenile detention. According to the disciplinary action, Watson later learned the youth was being sought by authorities for other offenses.

“I thought I was doing the right thing for the family, but I was written up for not doing the most punitive thing,” Meister said last week.

In response to the incident, Chief Carlson said that Meister’s mistake was not contacting the probation officer first.

“It was disobeying a direct order,” Carlson said this week. “The probation officer should have decided whether to detain the young man or call his parents. It’s not up to us to make that call.”

A year earlier, Meister was cited in 2016 for not properly processing evidence at the scene of a crime. According to Watson, the concern about the handling of evidence was brought to her by the prosecutor on the case and her role, as it usually is, was to evaluate the situation and decide whether a recommendation for disciplinary action should move forward to the chief. She believed that this did.

“Officer Meister gathered evidence from the scene and failed to process and book it into evidence,” according to Watson, who conducted the investigative interview of Meister.

According to Meister, the discipline involved a notepad that the owners of a burgled home said was not theirs, which Meister removed from the scene but did not include in the processed evidence.

To Carlson, any mistake in gathering evidence is significant because it calls into question evidence gathered in past crimes.

“Once it happens, you’re opening up problems with all your previous cases,” he said.

To Meister, these disciplinary actions, while not unfounded, relate to relatively minor mistakes. He also believes that Watson specifically targets him.

“She’s trying to find fault,” he said, regarding Watson. “If you want to find something negative, you will.”

Watson disagrees that she has any animus toward Meister from the 2014 incident, or that it affects his discipline.

“That has nothing to do with writing these complaints,” she said. “When they’re brought to me, I’m just doing my job.

Watson is the likely person to sign as the supervisory officer in disciplinary actions, as she has for all of the above except the 2015 discipline, because she’s one of only two sergeants, and the one who watches the officers’ dash-cam videos to review officers’ behavior, Carlson said. Carlson also said he is not concerned that Watson, the subject of Meister’s report to Village authorities about an inappropriate relationship, is not being fair to Meister.

“Naomi does a good job,” he said. “We’re all grown ups here.”

And in each incident, Meister signed the disciplinary action document stating that he agreed with it, according to Solicitor Conard. That signature indicates that Meister considered the discipline appropriate, Conard said.

“He didn’t lodge objections at the time. How would anyone know he disagreed?” Conard said.

But Meister said this week he felt pressure to sign the disciplinary actions. 

“I was trying to be a good employee, to not make waves,” he said. “I thought they were petty but could not argue with the facts. But now I feel enough is enough.”

The disciplinary process for Yellow Springs Police Cpl. David Meister continues this week after a motion failed at Council’s July 16 meeting that would have halted the process.

Council Member Judith Hempfling proposed that the Village decline further funds to Village Solicitor Chris Conard to pursue the discipline. Hempfling’s motion did not reach a vote as no Council member seconded her motion.

Conard is representing the Village in negotiations with Meister and his attorney ahead of a pre-disciplinary hearing that has yet to be scheduled (see sidebar).

At the meeting Hempfling said that the Village has made mistakes during the process and that it should, in a collaboration with the Chief, Village Manager and Council, “reset and resolve the situation in a more positive way.” (See Hempfling’s “Other voices” on page 4.)

“There’s been mistakes, some significant ones in many parts of the Village administration, and we have to look at them,” Hempfling said. 

Specifically, Hempfling noted that HR policies requiring annual performance evaluations have not been followed — in Meister’s nine years at the YSPD he was only evaluated twice — and that the Village has not given local police clear guidelines on how community policing might be specifically applied.

“I believe the faulty policies and practices that are evident to me in a lot of the HR practices are the foundation of this current disciplinary process,” Hempfling said. 

But the four other Council members said they wanted to see the disciplinary process continue. Several also acknowledged the need to improve evaluation and feedback processes in the department, albeit separately, and criticized the role of social media on public discourse around the disciplinary process.

Council President Brian Housh said that even though there is a lot that the Village can “do better on,” that there are legitimate reasons why Meister’s actions warrant this current disciplinary process. 

“There are issues around policies and procedures and best practices but there are also some fundamental issues that came up that were not the proper balance between leniency and safety,” Housh said.

Housh added that he knows enough about the situation to believe that discipline is appropriate, but that more information is needed before he can make a decision.

“Until we’ve done that preliminary hearing, I’m not ready to make any decision about where we go next,” Housh said.

Citizens also spoke during the discussion, most in support of Meister and with skepticism of the disciplinary process thus far. 

Carlos Landaburu urged the police department to stop the disciplinary process and restart it again with more transparency.

“Perhaps that would lead to a much better and more trustable outcome once the process has changed,” he said. 

Jeff “Pan” Reich noted several “hallmarks of unfair targeting” in Meister’s disciplinary record and asked Council members to open their eyes to the possible ethical and legal ramifications of the process.

“To pursue a legal battle will not serve our village’s best interest,” Reich said. “Meister is deserving of your protection for unfair targeting and retaliation.”

But Council member Kevin Stokes countered an apparent distrust of public officials and other leaders expressed at the meeting and in the public discourse, saying that “no one is out to get anybody.”

“I believe everyone involved in leadership in the Village is operating in as honorable a manner as we can,” Stokes said. “I would like to think that that’s the expectation that folks would have of us.”

Stokes supports continuing the disciplinary process, saying at the meeting, “it is important to allow the process to continue its course.” He encouraged villagers to trust the process, since the public is not privy to all the details of the case, and to allow him to be optimistic about its outcome.

“I look forward to a respectable process and a reasonable outcome,” he said. “I envision at the end of this process that Dave Meister will still be a YS police officer.”

In her remarks, Council Vice President Marianne MacQueen said that the situation isn’t as simple as “a police officer being unfairly treated,” and that while the disciplinary process could be better, she is not an expert on police personnel discipline — only the Village manager is.

The Village has been willing to negotiate with Meister, MacQueen noted of the process. In addition, any policy changes to the department should take place in parallel to Meister’s disciplinary process, not as part of it, she said.

“I do think we need to look at our structures. I don’t think doing it in an individual case is the way to do it,” MacQueen said. 

MacQueen is more concerned, she said, about the impact that the situation has had on officer morale, citing the “nasty stuff” on social media as a contributing factor.

Council member Lisa Kreeger also touched on the “toxic environment” of social media that she believes has damaged the community and broken the confidentiality a fair process requires. 

“What’s been disorienting for me is that … this situation has been tried publicly in a realm of imperfect information and highly uncivil discourse,” Kreeger said. 

Further, Kreeger said that “accusations of bullying and revenge” between police that have been aired on social media are concerning.

“I expect to believe that if that was happening, Chief Carlson would know and he would never have tolerated it,” Kreeger said. 

Kreeger added that “the process needs to play out,” after which Council should look at restorative justice and community policing policies and “new norms of behavior” in the department. Specifically, she noted, the Justice System Task Force needs to spend as much time as it has talking about overly aggressive discretion as “the risk of lenient policing that also may create safety situations.”

“We need to look at the entire continuum of what we’re talking about when we talk about discretion,” said Kreeger, who is the Council alternate for the JSTF. 

Finally, the disciplinary process is still in the early stages, Kreeger argued, saying, “it’s just exploratory, we’re not taking any action.”

In other citizen comments, Ken Odiorne said he doesn’t believe the problem is one of “cyber bullying” but instead social media engagement shows that many villagers care about the situation, while Council seems to be “missing something.”

Odiorne advised Council that the Village should “back off Corporal Meister,” and instead look to part ways with Carlson and the YSPD’s two sergeants, which he said “are not suitable for the kind of policing our town wants.”

“I think the organization is corrupt. I think it could not be less competent than it is now,” Odiorne said of the YSPD, encouraging Council to continue its work with the Justice System Task Force to transform local policing.

Robin Richardson-Coy, who lives just north of Yellow Springs, said Meister has proven to be an outstanding employee. In an era of distrust of police officers, “Officer Dave has the trust of this community,” she noted.

“Officer Dave has been doing the community policing that you guys are requesting,” Richardson-Coy added.

One citizen who spoke, Leslie Scheper, said she is undecided about the issue. Scheper went on to ask several questions about what led to the recommended discipline, saying she was curious about whether the Village wants officers to have discretion or to operate “100 percent by the book.”

“I’m wondering what the crux of the issue is that brought all of this out,” Scheper said.

In response, Bates said she could not answer Scheper’s questions “because they are related to the specifics of the case.”

Other items from Council’s July 16 agenda will be covered in next week’s News.

The Village of Yellow Springs has agreed to enter into mediation with Yellow Springs Police Corporal Dave Meister, according to Village Solicitor Chris Conard this week, regarding a dispute over proposed disciplinary actions that has lasted more than a month.

“The Village agreed to participate in a process that can be conducive to reaching a resolution,” Conard wrote in an email this week, stating that mediation was requested by Meister through his attorney, David Duwel.

“If we can get a resolution this way, that’s a good outcome,” Duwel said on Tuesday. “Mediation allows for more innovative solutions.”

The mediation is expected to take place within the next two weeks, Duwel said. The two sides plan to use the Village Mediation program, with an independent mediator conducting the process.

In a phone interview this week, Meister said he hopes the mediation can result in the disciplinary recommendations being dropped.

“I’m hoping this can resolve these problems and we can move forward,” he said.

The Village, represented by Solicitor Conard, and Duwel, representing Meister, have been in informal conversation for several weeks regarding disciplinary actions recommended by Police Chief Brian Carlson, which Meister has contested. 

Mediation will take the place of a pre-
disciplinary hearing, which Meister had requested and which was originally scheduled for June 29, then postponed to mid-July. However, that hearing was also postponed and the two attorneys have since been attempting to reach a compromise solution.

“Both sides have tried hard to resolve this,” Duwel said. “We thought we should bring in a neutral party.”

The recommended disciplines followed an internal department investigation into two March traffic stops by Meister. Both stops involved drivers with previous convictions who may have been inebriated. While Meister in both cases took away the driver’s ability to continue driving that night, he was faulted by Carlson for, in one case, not pressing the driver to see if she was intoxicated, and, in the second case, allowing an inebriated person to walk a block home and not charging him with operating a moving vehicle while intoxicated, or OVI.

In both cases, Meister used his discretion to find a solution that seemed good for both the individual and the community, according to Duwel, who stressed that Chief Carlson has advocated for officers using discretion. 

The original recommended disciplinary actions included Meister being demoted from corporal to patrol officer, three days of unpaid suspension, a 12-month probationary period and a performance plan that included a last-chance clause that, according to Duwel previously, would allow the Village to fire Meister easily.

Many villagers considered the recommended discipline too harsh, and a public protest took place in late June, shortly after they were announced. Meister also protested the disciplinary actions, saying he was being unfairly targeted in the department.

However, according to Carlson in an earlier interview with the News, the discipline was substantial because both incidents involved public safety.

In late June, the Village revised its disciplinary proposals, eliminating the probationary period and shortening the time without pay and the performance plan. However, Meister said at the time he could not agree to the revised proposals .

All proposed disciplinary actions continue to be on the table, according to Duwel this week.

“They’re on the table until they’re taken off the table,” he said.

Complicating the process is the launch a week ago of a second departmental investigation into Meister. That investigation focuses on two more recent traffic stops by Meister, one involving juveniles and the second involving an inebriated man on a bicycle. No other information is available because the investigation is ongoing, Duwel said this week.

According to Carlson last week, he could not comment on the second investigation. because it’s ongoing. 

The incidents included in the second investigation will likely also be covered in the mediation process, Duwel said. Conard agreed this week that all of the incidents involving Meister would likely be addressed, as Meister has requested that both investigations be covered in a single process.

Overall, Meister is looking for more guidance from Carlson and the department regarding the appropriate use of officer discretion, Duwel said this week.

“When you allow discretion, is there a range of responses that are allowed?” Duwel said. “When you give the officers discretion, it makes it harder in some ways. Dave is looking for more guidance, to have a better understanding going forward. He wants to create a roadmap for future success, not just for himself but the police department.”

According to Conard, if the mediation process is not successful, a pre-disciplinary hearing could still be held.

A Yellow Springs man is dead and an elder relative hospitalized after a late morning house fire Friday, Aug. 24, in the 1400 block of Glen View Drive. The names of the victims have not been released.

Local police and firefighters were called to 1436 Glen View about 11:30 a.m. on the report of a structure fire in progress and at least one person trapped inside, Miami Township Fire-Rescue Assistant Chief Denny Powell said in a statement to media.

Powell said multiple 911 calls reported the blaze, and neighbors, passersby and a group of village workers who had been on a job nearby were already on the scene, and had helped an older woman get out of the house, before fire crews arrived. A disabled man in his 20s was reportedly still inside.

Powell said firefighters were met by “very heavy smoke from the structure and a lot of heavy flames coming from the front.” They were able to enter the house from the back, but unable to rescue the man. The fire was mostly extinguished by 1 p.m., and the coroner’s office confirmed the death. 

The injured woman was taken to Soin Medical Center, and then by medical helicopter to Miami Valley Hospital, for smoke inhalation, Powell said. A third resident of the house was not home at the time of the blaze.

Powell did not speculate on the cause of the fire, or where it started in the house. “It is still under investigation,” he said. 

A family dog and cat survived, but two other dogs and some chickens died, according to a relative at the scene.

Along with Miami Township Fire and Rescue, fire crews from Xenia Township, Cedarville Township and Hustead also responded through mutual aid.

Powell said that the last fire fatality in the village was at least 15 years ago.

UPDATE: A Go Fund Me site has been set up to collect donations for the Coffey family. To donate, visit: gf.me/u/ks3ynf

On Monday, Aug. 27, Yellow Springs Police Officer David Meister was officially disciplined by Village Manager Patti Bates.

Meister was demoted from corporal to patrol officer, a change in rank that comes with a reduction in pay, and put on a six-month performance improvement plan, according to a memo to Meister from Bates. Meister had been promoted to corporal at the beginning of the year.

The discipline was in line with a revised recommendation from YSPD Chief Brian Carlson, who initially proposed that Meister be disciplined in a memo to Bates in May.

YSPD Sgt. Joshua Knapp had investigated the three incidents from March through May in which he found Meister’s dealings with possibly intoxicated people operating vehicles, and one involving juveniles in possession of marijuana, to be in violation of the YSPD’s policies.

In her memo to Meister, Bates wrote that while local officers may use discretion, they must do so within “reasonable limits” and without any favoritism. She also noted that Meister “failed to ensure public safety” in three of the incidents in question because he did not make sure the individuals arrived safety at their destination, which could be a potential liability for the Village. Bates also referenced previous violations in Meister’s personnel file.

Reached for comment this week, Meister said he was disappointed in the discipline, but has not yet decided whether he will appeal the action in court. 

Previously, Meister challenged the past violations in his file, saying he was unfairly targeted by others in the department for minor mistakes. He also defended his actions during this year’s incidents, saying he was disciplined for doing the kind of low-key, compassionate policing the community says it wants. Meister reaffirmed both beliefs this week.

“What I’ve done for community policing is what villagers have been asking for,” Meister said.

Meister said that though he feels marginalized in the department, he is cautiously optimistic that conditions may improve. And while he wishes the situation were handled differently, finding the initial disciplinary recommendation “heavy handed,” he also says he wants to move forward.

“We’ll see what the future holds,” Meister said. 

Bates enacted the final discipline after receiving a pre-disciplinary hearing report last week from Xenia Chief of Police Randy Person. Person found that there were grounds to impose discipline in two of the three incidents in question (Carlson withdrew one incident before the hearing, preferring to handle it internally.)

Person noted in his report that police discretion is not absolute and that “an officer must insure both the safety of the community and the safety of the individuals detained when dealing with potentially intoxicated individuals.”

Meister requested the pre-disciplinary hearing after receiving notice of Carlson’s proposed discipline in May. Person was called in as a mutually agreed upon hearing officer, and the hearing took place  Aug. 3.

Previously, the hearing was postponed for nearly a month while Meister and his attorney attempted a mediation process with the Village. Earlier this summer, news that Meister might be disciplined sparked community controversy and an outpouring of support for the popular local officer, a nine-year veteran of the department and Yellow Springs resident. In July, Council Member Judith Hempfling proposed that the Village decline further funds to Village Solicitor Chris Conard to pursue the discipline, but Hempfling’s motion did not reach a vote as no Council member seconded the motion.

Carlson’s revised recommendation, issued the day after the May memo but not previously made public, withdrew a proposed three-day suspension without pay, a 12-month probationary period and a last-chance agreement, according to Bates’ memo. A compromise proposal offering similar terms was rejected by Meister in July.

In disciplining Meister this week, Bates additionally waived a one-year probationary period that usually accompanies a change in rank, her memo noted. According to Bates, Chief Carlson will not immediately repost the position of corporal, for which Meister may consider reapplying after six months. Mesiter was also reassigned to work shifts concurrent with Carlson’s.

A car that flipped and landed on the driver’s side in front of Mills Park Hotel halted traffic on Xenia Avenue through downtown Yellow Springs for nearly an hour Wednesday afternoon, Sept. 19.

The driver of the white Hyundai Sonata appeared visibly shaken but unhurt after three witnesses reportedly pulled him out of the vehicle through the passenger-side window. 

Suzy Carson, of Chicago, Ill., in town with family to visit a nephew, said she saw the accident from the vantage of the hotel’s porch.

Carson said the Sonata was southbound on Xenia Avenue when it hit the back left side of a white Toyota Corolla SE parked across the street from the hotel. She said the Sonata driver “tried to jerk away” after hitting the other car, and that’s when his vehicle flipped.

“You wouldn’t believe how easy it rolled over,” she said, adding that the driver, who appeared in his early 20s, “wasn’t going fast.”

She said the driver of a northbound semitruck, along with a passerby and a man who came out of the nearby Smoking Octopus shop, all went to the Sonata driver’s aid.

“It was so nice how people helped,” she said.

The passerby, Stephen Hunt, said he was walking his son home from school and had stopped to talk to a friend on the corner by Town Drug when he heard the accident. He said his assistance at the scene was simply what “a person should do.”

Yellow Springs police officers and a Miami Township Fire-Rescue medic unit also responded to the scene. The Sonata driver was examined for injuries and released. The driver’s side airbag of his vehicle, which bore plates from the Jeff Wyler dealership in Springfield, had deployed when the car flipped.

The driver of the parked car said he was in the smoke shop at the time of the accident, about 3:30 p.m. Dan Mueller, 48, of Portland, Ore., said he was driving a rental vehicle while visiting family in the area. He heard the crash, but didn’t see it, he said.

On Monday, Oct. 1, Officer Richard Neel resigned from the Yellow Springs Police Department after seven months on the force.

Village Manager Patti Bates announced Neel’s resignation at Council’s Oct. 1 meeting. Later, in response to a question, Bates said that Neel would not be receiving additional pay or a letter of recommendation.

“There is no package. Officer Neel resigned on his own accord,” Bates said.

A small crowd that had come to the meeting to address a recent incident involving Neel erupted in applause at Bates’ announcement.

Officer Neel had been under scrutiny after residents made complaints to the YSPD, and on social media, that Neel had acted overly-aggressive towards citizens during stops and tended to escalate situations.

In an incident Saturday that some villagers found particularly troubling, Neel pulled his gun on a 92-year-old retired physician. Neel stopped longtime local resident Dr. Jim Agna on suspicion of a hit-skip, for not stopping when the officer tried to pull him over, and other charges.

YSPD Chief Brian Carlson said this week that after an initial review of the incident, Neel chose to resign rather than face an investigation into whether or not he violated police policy.

“Due to Ofc. Neel’s resignation an Internal Investigation cannot be properly completed as Ofc. Neel no longer has a duty to participate in the proceedings,” Carlson wrote in an email.

Including the recent incident, Neel was involved in three use-of-force incidents in his brief time with the department, according to Carlson.

Carlson also investigated several informal citizen complaints against Neel, finding concerns with “tone and demeanor” but no policy violations. After working with Neel to improve his de-escalation tactics and “understand the working environment in Yellow Springs,” in the end, the YSPD and Neel decided to part ways, Carlson said.

“He resigned and we wish him the best of luck,” Carlson said.

Neel was hired as a part-time officer in March in his first law enforcement job after receiving his peace officer certificate last year, according to his personnel file.

Read the Oct. 4 issue of the News for the full story.

Officer Richard Neel resigned Monday, Oct. 1, from the Yellow Springs Police Department after seven months on the force.

Village Manager Patti Bates announced Neel’s resignation at Council’s Oct. 1 meeting. Later, in response to a question, Bates said that Neel would not be receiving additional pay or a letter of recommendation.

“There is no package. Officer Neel resigned on his own accord,” Bates said.

A small crowd that had come to the meeting to address a recent incident involving Neel erupted in applause at Bates’ announcement.

Officer Neel had been under scrutiny after residents made complaints to the YSPD, and on social media, that Neel had acted overly aggressive toward citizens during interactions and tended to escalate situations.

In an incident Saturday that some villagers found particularly troubling, Neel pulled his gun on a 92-year-old retired physician. Neel stopped longtime local resident Dr. Jim Agna on suspicion of a hit-skip, for not stopping when the officer tried to pull him over, and other charges.

YSPD Chief Brian Carlson said this week that after an initial review of the incident, Neel chose to resign rather than face an investigation into whether or not he violated police policy. 

“Due to Ofc. Neel’s resignation, an Internal Investigation cannot be properly completed as Ofc. Neel no longer has a duty to participate in the proceedings,” Carlson wrote in an email.

Including the recent incident, Neel was involved in three use-of-force incidents in his brief time with the department, according to Carlson.

Carlson also investigated several informal citizen complaints against Neel, finding concerns with “tone and demeanor” but no policy violations. After working with Neel to improve his de-escalation tactics and “understand the working environment in Yellow Springs,” in the end, the YSPD and Neel decided to part ways, Carlson said.

“He resigned and we wish him the best of luck,” Carlson said.

Neel was hired as a part-time officer in March in his first law enforcement job after receiving his peace officer certificate last year, according to his personnel file.

Recent incident

According to police records, at around 6 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 29, a Dayton Street caller told the dispatcher that a car struck his car on Dayton Street and kept driving. 

Neel responded and attempted to pull over the suspected vehicle, driven by Agna. However, Agna, who is known to have hearing problems, continued to drive for several blocks. According to Neel, Agna also drove through a stop sign and across marked lanes. 

Then, after Agna pulled into his garage on Meadow Lane and started to exit the car, Neel approached with his gun drawn and aimed at him, according to dispatcher records, which reported “one at gun point.” 

A witness who lives next door said he walked around his garage to find an officer “barking orders” at Agna “with his weapon drawn and pointed at him” from a distance of about 10 to 12 feet.

Lee Kibblewhite, the neighbor, intervened when it seemed the officer wasn’t aware he was dealing with an elderly man. When Kibblewhite first heard sirens he thought his neighbor might be having a medical issue, but grew worried when he saw the officer training his gun on his neighbor.

“My mind had gone from ‘I hope Jim is okay’ to ‘Oh my god, Jim is in danger. Jim is in danger,’” Kibblewhite said.

Agna appeared terrified and confused, according to Kibblewhite. Agna later said it was the worst day of his life, according to his daughter, Gwen, who was visiting from out of town during the incident.

Neel cited Agna on four counts, including a first-degree misdemeanor (failure to stop after accident), a fourth-degree misdemeanor (failure to pull over when signaled by the officer) and two minor misdemeanors (failure to control, and a stop sign violation). 

According to Carlson this week, those charges will stand and are not affected by Neel’s departure.

Citizens respond

At the meeting, several villagers addressed concerns over Neel’s recent actions and the YSPD in general during the citizen’s comments portion of the meeting. Others who had planned to speak left earlier after Neel’s resignation was announced.

Robert Paschell, who said he has known Agna for 52 years, found the incident involving Officer Neel “very upsetting,” saying that training a gun on someone should be a “last ditch measure” when an officer’s life is in danger.

“I just couldn’t imagine Jim Agna endangering someones’ life — quite the opposite,” Paschell said.

Tanja Resch-Jillson said that she was disappointed to learn of the recent incident involving Neel, but also disappointed that Officer Neel had resigned.

“I feel like we are losing an opportunity… to teach, to grow, to learn — him as well as us,”  Resch-Jillson said

Resch-Jillson added that the YSPD’s hiring process needs more transparency.

Athena Fannin, who goes by Minerva Barker in online forums, added her belief that the YSPD “has hiring issues,” citing the frequent turnover of police officers who work in the village.

Donna Silvert said she was concerned that the issue only arose because it involved an older white male “that we all know, so we know he is harmless,” when a policy should be in place “that keeps every innocent person safe.”

Silvert added that the process to address local policing has been too slow, and encouraged Council to not see the situation as over just because the officer involved resigned.

“For this to have happened this past weekend after all of the process that we’ve gone through is very frightening,” Silvert said. “Policy has to be addressed.”

Bates responded to say that Village staff are continuing the process of improvement at the YSPD that began after the New Year’s Eve incident at the start of 2017.

“We as a staff have internally already begun talking about how we can improve our processes to alleviate this problem,” Bates said. 

Council President Brian Housh said that Council and Village staff were distressed to hear about the incident, but that citizens should remember that the Village is in “unchartered territory” and must work with officers trained at the academy in ways that often don’t align with the Village’s desire for community policing.

Council Vice President Marianne MacQueen agreed, saying it’s not just about policy changes but the importance of “reprogramming” officers after training that is geared towards making them warriors, not guardians.

“We want our officers to be guardians — to keep people safe,” MacQueen said.

Neel is the latest YSPD officer to resign or be terminated after coming under scrutiny for behaving in an overly aggressive way towards citizens. Last year, Officer RJ Hawley parted ways with the department after an investigation found that he contributed to creating “a volatile situation” during the annual New Year’s Eve celebration. And in 2016, Officer John Whittemore was fired four months into his employment after two controversial use-of-force incidents.

Carlson said that new officers, as well as experienced officers who are new to the village, face a “learning curve” when they arrive here. Even after orienting them to the Village’s policing style, it may still not work out.

Other items from Council’s Oct. 1 will be covered in next week’s News.

The Yellow Springs Police Department put out a Hyper-reach alert Saturday afternoon warning about a rash of automotive break-ins in the village.

According to a YSPD dispatcher, most all of the vehicles were “unsecured;” villagers are advised to lock their cars, to remove any valuables, to remain vigilant and to contact village police by dialing 911 to report thefts or if they suspect anything. Break-ins have been reported over the last two weeks, and are not limited to any specific area.

The Greene County Hyper-reach Alert notification system automatically calls local phone numbers and some mobile devices; residents are encouraged to sign up to receive weather and community alerts via telephone or email: https://signup.hyper-reach.com/hyper_reach/sign_up_page_2/?id=32861

Villagers can also contact the Yellow Springs Police Department with non-emergency related questions at 767-7206.

According to the Yellow Springs Police Department today —

On Thursday, Dec. 13, at 10:27 p.m., the YSPD received a 911 call about a person being shot at 111 ½ Corry St in Yellow Springs. Police responded and found a male laying on the balcony of that address with a gun shot wound to the head. An investigator from the Greene County Coroner’s Office responded to the scene and identified the victim as 40-year-old Kenneth Livingston of Yellow Springs.

Livingston’s death was apparently the result of self-inflicted gun shot wound, according to the YSPD, and it could have been accidental. The Yellow Springs Police Department is investigating in cooperation with the Greene County Coroner’s Office.

We appreciate the hard work of the Yellow Springs Police Department throughout the year to keep the community safe. But in the weekly Village Police Reports, there are usually a few items that are “head scratchers.” Here are some of our favorite colorful and unusual items from the past year’s YSPD reports.

Oh, never mind…

On Christmas Day, Monday, Dec. 25, 2017, police were called for a welfare check to a local residence. The officer deduced that, while all present were intoxicated, there was no injury observed, and the officer left.

At 5:46 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 3, a caller on West North College Street reported having returned home from vacation, but was unable to get into his house, as the front door and garage door seemed to be frozen shut. After investigating, the responding officer found that house cleaners had locked the deadbolt on the front door without the residents’ knowledge. The officer unlocked the door and got the residents inside.

About 8 p.m. Monday, Feb. 26, a caller reported that her vehicle had been taken from the laundromat parking lot sometime after 3 p.m. Police checked in with the Greene County Sheriff’s Office, which had no report of a repossession, as well as the laundromat owner, who said the vehicle had not been towed. The car owner called back about 9:22 p.m. to report that her vehicle had “suddenly showed up with the keys in it.”

On March 29 at 8 a.m., a caller reported that men were stealing the tires off his truck. Police contacted the caller and found he was confused about the vehicle’s ownership.

At about 3 a.m. Monday, May 28, officers observed a subject who appeared to be passed out in a vehicle on Railroad Street. A welfare check confirmed that the subject, the vehicle’s owner, was merely sleeping and all was in order.

About 12:35 a.m. Saturday, July 28, a caller reported witnessing a vehicle, either an SUV or a Jeep, hit a light pole at the corner of Corry Street and Xenia Avenue. The caller said the driver got out, looked at the damage, then got back in and left the area.

About 2:15 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 2, a caller reported a suspicious vehicle in a parking lot on Kahoe Lane. The caller said that two men were lying low in the vehicle, “as to go unnoticed,” and the license plate was out of state. The responding officer found two men in Terminex work shirts reclined in their vehicle with hats over their faces. The men said they were on break and taking a nap. Their explanation checked out, and the officer asked them to move and park somewhere else.

About 12:35 p.m. on Oct. 27, police were called to check on a white male with a bike sitting near the Hyde Road covered bridge, as he appeared distraught. An officer found the man wheeling a presumably discarded air conditioning unit on his bike. He stated he was fine — just hungover — and needed no assistance.

Around 1:30 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 4, a patrol observed individuals “hanging out in the vehicle listening to music.” Officers checked to make sure everything was okay. All was in order.

On Monday, Nov. 26, about 12:24 p.m., a caller reported a suspicious person inside the UPS truck with the UPS driver. The other person turned out to be a seasonal employee.

On Tuesday, Dec. 4, about 10:12 a.m., a caller reported hearing a noise in their home, but could not find where it was coming from, or tell if it was inside or outside. The responding officer found the noise to be coming from a child’s computer game.

Critters…

On Sunday, Feb. 4, about 2:30 a.m., an officer was flagged down by a pedestrian to report a possible deer strike in the 900 block of Dayton Street. The officer found a “dazed,” but otherwise seemingly uninjured animal at the intersection of Dayton and Wright streets. The deer was guided to a nearby yard and seemed to be recovering.

An animal complaint on Monday, Feb. 5, resulted in this conclusion from the responding officer: “no large wild cat seen in the area.”

Another caller later that day reported a different complaint: a brown bulldog, off its leash, had startled a deer in his yard.

Just before 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 18, a caller reported people hanging out in her backyard. The responding officer spotted a raccoon.

About 5:45 a.m. Wednesday, April 25, a cow was reported in the roadway on Polecat Road at the Little Miami Scenic Bike Path spur. A contact for the adjacent farm was notified.

A caller at 5:25 p.m. Monday, June 11, reported a live animal in her wood stove, inside the house. The responding officer suggested she call a “critter getter” for a quote, and assured the resident that the animal couldn’t get out.

Two dogs were chasing cows in a nearby pasture according to a caller from Polecat Road near North Walnut Street around 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 3. The caller told police the dogs may belong to the “cow owners” because a Gator is out there with them. Police found the Gator and the cows did belong to the property owners.

A Northwood Drive caller told police at 6:17 p.m. on Oct. 4 that a cow was on the loose in the area and was headed toward Polecat Road. By 6:38 p.m. the cow was back in its pasture and the owner promised to repair a section of fence.

A caller reported five pigs were running loose on Cemetery Street about 1:50 p.m. on Oct. 25. An officer went to Flying Mouse Farms to notify the owner of the pigs, who returned them safely to the farm.

Friends and Neighbors…

On Dec. 29 a villager reported to police that while her friends used her car over the past week, they had received about $200 in toll fines that she was responsible for. She asked police to help her remove the fines, and was advised to complete necessary paperwork.

Jan. 13, a caller on East Whiteman Street reported a suspicious person on her property. The responding officer found a known man gathering wood; there seemed to be a misunderstanding concerning the caller’s property line. The man agreed to return the wood.

The resident on East Whiteman Street who reported the previous week that a local man had taken wood from her property, called about 11 a.m. on Jan. 18, to report that the man, who had said he wasn’t aware of the property line and agreed to return the wood, did not bring it all back. The resident called about 3 p.m. to say she was still waiting for return of the remaining bundles.

A local resident called 911 at 8:41 p.m. May 8, to report that she couldn’t find her cell phone and suspected that her landlord took it in retribution for losing a court case against her that morning. On Saturday, May 12, about 3:36 p.m., the landlord called to report that the tenant, who had since moved out, had taken his microwave oven.

Around 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, May 17, a caller told police that she heard noises and was concerned a neighbor may be harming themselves. Police found the person was frustrated over a can opener.

The wild life…

At 1:15 p.m., Friday, Jan. 5, a person came to the police station to file a report about an incident that happened at a bar. The complainant said that an unwanted male sat down at a table where he, his wife and two other people were sitting. The man grew upset and aggressive, pulled down his pants and exposed himself to the group. The complainant said the man also said lewd and disturbing things to his party, so they left.

A report at 7:40 p.m., Feb. 27, of a suspicious person brought an officer to the area, where the officer found a vehicle that was leaving and a strong odor of marijuana coming from the Glen. Further exploration located no source for the odor.

Just before 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 6, a caller reported the sound of someone, potentially intoxicated or high, singing at the skate park. Police checked the area but did not locate a singing individual.

Just past 10 p.m. on May 27, a caller from Miami Township Fire-Rescue station told police they had spotted a naked man. Police found the man at the corner of Corry Street and Xenia Avenue, naked. For walking in public naked, police cited him for disorderly conduct, a minor misdemeanor. He was also cited for public indecency, a misdemeanor of the fourth degree, for recklessly exposing his private parts.

A caller at about 2:40 a.m. Saturday, June 9, reported that four empty kegs that had been placed to block off the Peach’s Grill parking lot for Street Fair had been stolen.

About 3:30 a.m. Friday, June 15, police investigated a suspicious looking vehicle at Railroad and Dayton streets and found two people asleep in the back seat with the vehicle running. According to one officer’s narrative: “Both [subjects] admitted to have been drinking earlier in the night at the Gulch, however I did not smell any alcoholic beverage. Both individuals seemed oriented with no slurred speech. Both subjects were valid drivers with no warrants. Both were asked to get out of the vehicle once they were clothed.” Officers drove the female home, and the male said he would walk to a nearby friend’s home.

On June 29 at 2:42 p.m., a caller told police that two teenagers on the grounds of Mills Lawn Elementary School might be engaged in intimate behavior in the “blue tube.” Police spoke to the teenagers, who were not being intimate, and gave them advice.

Small town life…

A person entered a downtown business through a side door after hours on March 18, indicating to police that he did not know the business closed at 3 p.m. Police contacted the business’ key holders.

At 8:20 p.m. May 3, a caller at the inter- section of East Enon Road and Dayton St. reported a child riding a bike westbound on Dayton-Yellow Springs Road. An officer caught up with the six-year-old at Snypp Road. In the process of returning the boy home, the officer stopped first at the Antioch School “to return a borrowed bike.”

About 7:20 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 29, a caller requested a “tall” officer’s help in turning off a fan the caller couldn’t reach. The woman’s daughter then called immediately after and said she would go to her mother’s home and take care of the fan.

At 2:21 p.m. on Oct. 6, a West Limestone St. caller complained of loud music and voices. They were told the source of the music was Porchfest.

A woman called on Oct. 31 to report that she was house- and pet-sitting, and took the dogs for a walk, but locked herself out of the house. At around 4:30 p.m., police assisted by entering through a bathroom window.

About 5:17 on Nov. 22, a caller reported that her neighbor’s front door was wide open, and that her dog was loose. The car was in the drive, but nobody was visible inside. An officer checked to find the door was closed, the dog inside and the resident present. She said the turkey she was cooking had been smoking up the house, so she had opened doors and windows to vent the smoke, and the dog got loose.

Just plain weird…

On Thursday, April 12, at 7:30 p.m., police went out to Corry St., where witnesses reported that a vehicle had been struck twice by two different cars. Police took pictures and left a note on the damaged vehicle.

At 8:30 a.m. Thursday, May 10, a caller in the 300 block of Corry St. reported that she had found flour scattered across the sidewalk and a patch of grass that looked to have been burned.

Police were called to a Wright St. address at 10 a.m. Friday, Aug. 17, on a report that a neighbor was in the caller’s driveway taking pictures of cars driving by and checking license plates. The person in question was gone when police arrived.

An Antioch student reported at 4:40 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 18, that he had tried to purchase a vehicle online. The funds were taken but no vehicle had been delivered.

At 11:37 p.m. on Nov. 23, a caller reported a suspicious vehicle with North Carolina plates outside the library. On arrival, the caller told police the vehicle had been driving up and down Davis St. and appeared to be lost. The officer spotted the vehicle and pulled it over to find the driver had been playing Pokemon Go.

On Wednesday, Dec. 5, around 5:57 p.m., police received a report of a trespasser. The caller said someone broke into their home and washed his clothes in their bathtub. The clothes were still in the tub when the resident placed the call.

On Dec. 6 around 9:57 a.m. a caller reported that she had been a victim of identity theft. About 10:47 a.m., she reported receiving a text alert from MasterCard that an unusual transaction at UGG.com had been charged to her card.

Yellow Springs Police Officer David Meister faces possible termination after Village administration alleged he may have violated policy by not responding to a fatal shooting in the village last month.

The Village is looking into whether Meister — who had gone off duty but was still at the station — should have accompanied the officer on duty to the scene of a shooting on Dec. 13, 2018.

During the call to a downtown apartment, Officer Paul Raffoul found that resident Kenneth Livingston had died of a gunshot wound to the head, which witnesses have said was self-inflicted and accidental. A cause of death, however, has yet to be officially announced.

In a letter to Meister on Jan. 9, Village Manager Patti Bates wrote that by not responding to the scene, Meister is alleged to have violated the Yellow Springs Police Department policy, Guidelines for Village Policing and YS Personnel policy.

“By failing to respond to the scene of the shooting, you failed to ensure the safety of others, and innocent bystanders, and to potentially prevent further injury,” the letter states.

“You also potentially failed, as a trained EMT, to render potentially life-saving assistance to the injured person,” it continues.

Meister also may have violated several policies related to safety and was possibly negligent in his duties as a police officer to ensure public safety, Bates’ letter states.

Meister said in an interview this week that he didn’t go out on the call because he was not authorized by a supervisor to do so. Meister worried that he would be disciplined if he went, saying he was particularly cautious after his demotion from corporal to officer last fall as part of a prior discipline.

“I would be violating numerous policies if I were to take independent action when I’m not on duty,” he said. “I’m trying to be very careful.”

Although Meister said he did not explicitly offer to accompany Raffoul on the call, he would have gone if he were asked by the patrolman. Before Meister left, he confirmed that YSPD Sgt. Knapp was en route along with the Miami Township Fire and Rescue squad, and that earlier reports of a murder suspect at large were not accurate, he said.

“It sounded like things were contained,” Meister said. “There were false reports that were determined quickly to not be true.”

On the night of Dec. 13, 2018, between 10:27 p.m. and 10:35 p.m., several reports came in to the YSPD and Xenia/Greene County Central Dispatch about fireworks, an armed suspect driving away from downtown in a black Volvo and a self-inflicted shooting. By 10:37 p.m. YSPD had confirmed that the reports about the black Volvo were unsubstantiated and requested the coroner.
Meister said he does not recall the exact time of his departure, but that he later went to the home of a family member of the victim — who was a neighbor — to offer comfort. He also expressed sadness that he was unable to help on the scene.

“I desperately wanted to go out and help the night Ken died,” Meister wrote in a follow-up message. “He was a neighbor and a friend and I would have loved to have been there to assist in this crisis.”

Meister said he would be requesting a pre-disciplinary hearing from the Village, but he had not done so by press time.

Meister faces discipline “up to and including termination,” according to Bates’ letter, a quote from Meister’s recent internal discipline in October.

“You should be aware that any further violations of policy or failure to ensure the safety of citizens will result in further discipline,” that previous disciplinary letter also states.

Meister was demoted and put on a six-month performance improvement plan after an investigation concluded he violated department policy in two incidents last year by not ensuring public safety. Meister, the only full-time officer who lives in the village, received an outpouring of local support during that investigation.

Village Council weighed in on the matter this week, writing in a statement:
“The paramount duty of all our police team members is to ensure that the public and their fellow officers are safe at all times. Any failure of an officer to protect the public and co-workers must be investigated.”

The final disciplinary decision rests with the Village Manager, the Council statement says. Council member Kevin Stokes added in an email that he trusts that the Village Manager’s decision would be in “the best interests of the Village, the YSPD and Officer Meister.” He also asserted that the disciplinary matter should be kept private.

In an interview, Council President Brian Housh said he found Meister’s behavior, even if unintentional, “problematic.”

“We are very concerned with what we think is no question that Meister was not acting with a safety-centered mindset,” Housh said of Council’s perspective.

Council member Lisa Kreeger said that she was “shocked and dismayed” to hear about Meister’s actions on the night of the shooting, which could have threatened the safety of both citizens and his fellow officers.

In addition, Kreeger said that overtime rules are not relevant and that Meister could have helped even if he didn’t technically go back on duty.

“You act first. You assure the safety of the public and fellow officers first,” Kreeger said. “If there are any issues around on or off the clock, that is a whole different question.”

According to Bates’ letter, Meister allegedly violated the YSPD policy manual’s Code of Ethics section, stating law enforcement officers have a duty to “safeguard lives and property.” In addition, he also may have violated the Guidelines for Community Policing, specifically the guideline about being “safety-centered.”

“Safety is the primary need identified by the Yellow Springs community members with regard to police services,” the Guidelines for Village Policing, passed in 2017, states.

Finally, Bates alleges that Meister violated the section of the YS Personnel Policy Manual titled “Unacceptable Behaviors,” which discusses “wanton or willful neglect of duty.”

“By failing to respond to the scene of the shooting … you were negligent in performing your obligation, as a peace officer with the Village of Yellow Springs, to ensure the safety of the public,” Bates wrote in reference to the policy.

Bates wrote the most recent letter to Meister a few days after receiving the findings of an outside investigation completed by the Clark County Sheriff’s Office. The Village declined to release that document this week, citing the ongoing nature of the disciplinary matter. Bates launched the investigation on Dec. 14.

Although the Livingston shooting is believed to have been accidental, police are still investigating the incident as a possible crime, according to the Village. Police are waiting for a ruling on Livingston’s cause of death as well as toxicology results from the Greene County Coroner.

A pre-disciplinary hearing for Yellow Springs Police Department Officer David Meister has been set for Thursday, Feb. 7.

The hearing officer will be Dayton attorney and mediator Jeff Hazlett, who was selected “upon recommendation and agreement of” Meister’s attorney, Dave Duwel, according to Village Manager Patti Bates this week.

The pre-disciplinary hearing is the next step in a disciplinary process that started in December 2018. Meister elected for the hearing after receiving a letter from the Village earlier this month informing him that he had allegedly violated policies related to ensuring public safety by not going on the call of a fatal shooting in the village in December 2018. Meister was off duty but still at the station when that call came in.

Previous News coverage:

• A closer look at the Meister investigation, 1/31/19

• YSPD Officer Meister faces termination, 1/17/19

• New Meister investigation launched, 1/10/19

• Village of Yellow Springs Personnel Manual 7.1.14

• Yellow Springs Police Department Policy Manual

• Meister–VYS 2018 discipline and MOU

• YS Guidelines for Community Policing

• Greene County Central dispatch log from 12/13/18

• Clark County Sheriff’s Office Meister Investigation 1/7/19

• Village of Yellow Springs exhibits for Meister pre-disciplinary hearing, 2/7/19

• Hazlett (hearing officer) pre-disciplinary hearing final report, 2/18/19

• Village findings on Meister investigation (final determination), 2/27/19

Previous News coverage:

• Hearing officer conclusion — Meister violated no policies, 2/21/19 (print edition)

• A closer look at the Meister investigation, 1/31/19

• YSPD Officer Meister faces termination, 1/17/19

• New Meister investigation launched, 1/10/19

This week the Greene County Coroner concluded its investigation of the fatal shooting of resident Kenneth Livingston on Dec. 13, 2018.

Coroner Kevin Sharrett ruled that Livingston’s death was an accident, according to a coroner’s verdict released to the News today. The 40 year old died of acute ventricular dysrhythmia and a contact gunshot wound of the head, the coroner found.

Local police and several witness had previously said that Livingston’s death appeared to be self-inflicted and accidental.

The full coroner’s report and autopsy findings are not yet available due to an ongoing investigation by the Yellow Springs Police Department. According to YSPD Chief Brian Carlson today, the YSPD is still awaiting three lab results to conclude its investigation into the matter.

The Yellow Springs Police Department is continuing to investigate a missing persons case involving a local 26-year-old male, Leonid A. Clark.

Clark, also known as Lonya or Leo by some, was last seen in Yellow Springs around January 13, 2019. He is a white male, 5’6” with hazel eyes and brown hair approximately 120 pounds.

From Facebook

Clark grew up in the village and attended Yellow Springs Schools.

UPDATE: On Sunday,  the YSPD, along with Miami Township Fire-Rescue, assisted Buckeye Search and Rescue Dogs to search Glen Helen Nature Preserve, an area Clark was known to frequent.

On Monday morning, YSPD reported that they were close to completing a full search of the Glen and adjacent terrain off of Grinnell and Hyde Road near the riding center, with no “hits,” according to YSPD Chief Brian Carlson in an email.

The YSPD will continue to reach out to hospitals, treatment centers, shelters and follow up on any the leads that come in, according to Carlson. If Clark has had contact with any law enforcement agencies across the country, YSPD will be notified, Carlson wrote.

“We ask that everyone please check your garages, outbuildings, sheds, under porches, steps, decks, or anywhere where someone might seek shelter from the extreme conditions. Mr. Clark has hitched rides in the past and been out of touch but typically someone has an idea of his whereabouts,” Carlson wrote.

Clark frequently leaves town without notifying family, however the length of his absence without contact caused the family to reach out to law enforcement after exhausting their efforts to locate his whereabouts, according to the YSPD this weekend, which has been actively looking for Clark for about one week.

Clark was classified as a missing person on Wednesday, Feb. 6, after failing to appear in Missouri for a scheduled court hearing.

Anyone who may have had contact with Mr. Clark or knows of his whereabouts is asked to contact the Yellow Springs Police Department at 937-767-7206.

Village Manager Patti Bates confirmed on Friday, Feb. 22, that Yellow Springs Police Officer Dave Meister won’t be fired at the conclusion of the recent internal investigation into his professional behavior.

Bates added that she has yet to render her decision on any potential discipline, reaffirming that she hopes to do so by the end of the week or the beginning of next week.

A Village Council executive session has been added for Monday, Feb. 25, “for the discussion of the discipline of a public employee,” according to the Village this week. No public meeting will take place that evening.

Previously, the News reported that, in a decision released Wednesday, Feb. 20, pre-disciplinary hearing officer Jeffrey Hazlett concluded that Yellow Springs Police Officer Dave Meister did not violate any local police department policies by not responding to a shooting in the village in early December. (Read the report)

In response to the report, the Village issued a press release stating, in part, that, “the finding he did not violate policy was based, not upon the actual actions of Officer Meister, but upon the finding that Village policies were not specific enough to be absolutely clear in guiding Officer Meister’s actions in this case.” The press release adds, “The past few months have shown that the Village disciplinary processes are fair and just.”  (Read the full press release)

Read the full story in the 2/21 issue of the News.

Click here for other public records related to the Meister investigation.

Yellow Springs Police Officer David Meister will not be disciplined after a two-month investigation into his professional behavior on the night of a fatal shooting in the village in December, according to the Village.

In a letter to Officer Meister on Wednesday, Feb. 27, Village Manager Patti Bates explained her decision to not impose discipline in the case by referencing the report of pre-disciplinary hearing officer Jeffrey Hazlett. Hazlett found that Meister did not violate any local police department policies by not responding to the shooting while off duty but still at the station. Bates wrote that as a result of that finding, she could not impose any discipline on the officer:

“Although I disagree with many of Hearing Officer Hazlett’s findings, and I also point out that his conclusions directly conflict with the findings of the Clark County investigation, I have no choice but to accept the determination that Village policies do not expressly state that an officer — in uniform, on the premises and able to assist a fellow officer — is expected to respond to any call for service related to an emergent situation in which public safety and the safety of a fellow officer may be at risk. For this reason, I cannot impose further discipline on you. However, I want to be clear that, in my opinion, you did not perform your duty consistent with the spirit and intent of and the goals established in the Guidelines for Village Policing, other Village policies and your Oath of Office as a Yellow Springs Peace Officer.”

Although Meister will not receive additional discipline, a six-month performance improvement plan stemming from Meister’s 2018 discipline will be extended an additional six months starting Feb. 27, Bates explained in the letter. That Memorandum of Understanding includes the provision that if Meister does not meet regularly in mediated sessions with the Chief of Police, among other goals, he could be fired.

Read Bates’ letter on the decision.

Click here for other public records related to the Meister investigation and previous News coverage.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.