CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A 2nd District police sergeant was suspended for failing to act on a Cleveland woman's complaint that her ex-boyfriend was going to assault her, a fear that came true within hours of her leaving the police station.
Sgt. William Lally was suspended without pay for one day. An additional two-day suspension will kick in if he has any disciplinary problems before October 2014.
Lally, a Cleveland police officer since 1985, has "a spotless record," according to Lt. Brian Betley, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 8, which represents police supervisors.
Police Chief Michael McGrath gave Lally a suspension much smaller than what was recommended by the Civilian Police Review Board of the Cleveland Office of Professional Standards. The board suggested Lally be suspended for 10 days.
On July 31, Lydia Ruiz and her attorney went to the Police Department to file an official report against her ex-boyfriend, Dwayne Canterbury, because he threatened to "physically harm her."
The message was on her phone, relayed from her Facebook page. She said she showed the message to Lally.
"Lally made the decision that suspect Canterbury's comments were not threats," said the review board report. "He then willfully refused to honor the victim's no-contact order, make a police report, protect the victim from additional harm [or] prevent a crime."
Later that day, Canterbury went to Lally's house and assaulted her, breaking her jaw and three teeth. She also suffered cuts and bruises. He had been released from jail earlier that day, where he was being held on charges of burglarizing her home and criminal damaging.
He was arrested on Aug. 1 for the July 31 assault. Prosecutors combined the assault case with the earlier case and on Dec. 14 Canterbury pleaded guilty in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court to attempted aggravated assault, retaliation against a witness and domestic violence. He was sentenced to one year in prison.
Betley said the matter is not so cut-and-dried.
"The message she showed Sgt. Lally was not the threatening one she later showed to police," he said. "We don't dispute that the threat was made before she spoke with Sgt. Lally, but the message she showed him dealt with a court case and was deemed not threatening. Certainly, if he had seen the other message, he would have told an officer to take a report. Why wouldn't he? It's no skin off his back."
Betley said the issue turned into a "he said, she said" situation not easy for either side to prove.
"We filed a grievance over it, and it was turned down," Betley said. "We were going to bring it up before our board and perhaps go for arbitration, when Lally said not to bother. He just accepted the consequences."
In her complaint, Ruiz said, "The sergeant should be retrained, disciplined and the entire 2nd District should be told to take reports from citizens when they come in."
Betley said of Lally, "He's a good guy, a hard-working officer. This goes against his character. We've maintained she showed him the wrong message and everything went wrong from there."