By April McClellan-Copeland
Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
Copyright 2006 Plain Dealer Publishing Co.
Northfield Center Township, Ohio — Trustees appointed a retired law enforcement officer to reopen an investigation of Fire Chief Robert Derrit, whose dismissal was reversed by a judge two months ago.
John Lawson, a recently retired captain with the Summit County Sheriff’s Office and a township resident, will consider accusations that Derrit left a firefighter alone in a burning house and delayed a response to another fire because of a personal errand.
Lawson, who has also worked for both the Northfield Center and Northfield fire departments, offered to conduct the investigation at no charge to the township.
“The trustees asked me if I can take a fair and unbiased look, and I said I’d do what I can to help the township,” Lawson said in an interview Monday.
Derrit was fired in March, but he has been back on the job since September, when Summit County Common Pleas Judge Elinore Marsh Stormer ruled that trustees made procedural errors in an investigation of complaints about the chief.
Stormer said trustees failed to appoint a private citizen to investigate Derrit’s conduct and prepare charges as required by Ohio law.
Reached by telephone on Monday, Derrit said, “I haven’t done anything I’m ashamed of. Let them do what they are going to do.”
Trustees also agreed to allow attorney Michael Marando to negotiate on behalf of the township for a final settlement of Derrit’s back wages and attorney fees.
One of more than 18 charges that trustees presented at a public hearing in March was that Derrit pulled the partner of former firefighter Kelly Whapham from a burning house in October 2004, leaving Whapham there alone. Whapham escaped without serious injury.
They also accused Derrit of making firefighters late to a November 2005 fire because he had a crew use a township ambulance to take him to a Wal-Mart, where his car was being repaired.
In March, Derrit released a written statement that said Whapham was never instructed to enter the house and did so on her own. He also said it took four minutes, a typical amount of time, for firefighters to leave for the November fire.