Canton police officer and anger management poster boy Daniel Harless has been fired from the Canton, Ohio police force. Faithful TTAGers will recall officer Harless’s distinguished body of work. As cantonrep.com so eloquently put it, “A pattern of verbal abuse and death or physical threats was too much for the city to overlook when deciding to fire Patrolman Daniel Harless, according to the safety director.” You can probably see how threatening to “execute” motorists who are licensed to carry a gun could be problematic.
According to safety director Thomas Ream who issued the ruling:
“It is quite clear that (Harless’) actions represented a pattern of behavior where inappropriate verbal abuse and threats of death or great bodily harm of the various complainants occurred,” Ream wrote in his ruling.
“This escalating pattern of potentially dangerous behavior cannot be justified or excused and clearly illustrates the seriousness of the departmental infractions,” he added.
As you’d expect, the Canon Police Patrolman’s Association will be appealing the ruling. CPPA president Bill Adams said,
“Obviously, it’s an unfortunate set of circumstances that transpired,” Adams said. “We feel that due to the fact that (Harless) has PTSD, that nobody realized it for eight-plus years, for it to come to light the way it did … this is not a way we wanted this to play out. PTSD is obviously a disease.”
Adams said that the incident that sparked the illness occurred in 2003 when a suspect nearly bit off Harless’ finger while trying to get the officer’s gun.
Harless’s PTSD wasn’t diagnosed until after was finally removed from active duty for his abusive behavior, eight years after the incident that allegedly caused it.
In the mean time, let’s hear it for the guy who invented the Dash Cam, without which Patrolman Harless would still be prowling the streets of Canton.
News update to all you cop haters out there,….for every single bad cop there are thousands of good ones. Your generalized ignorant rants are no different than the racists out there insisting every black or mexican is a dirty criminal,…GROW THE HECK UP.
I’ve spent a few years around cops, my mom was cheated on and beat up by them, yet I’m not foolish enough to think they are all that way, there are many more that have layed there lives down in one way or another for disrespectuful jerks that never desrved it, and never asked for anything in return but to just be apreciated for their duty,….and you can’t even find it in yourselves to give them that…..
Walk a mile in their shoes and your foolish, ignorant attitudes would change.
Are those 1000 the same ones that turn a blind eye and protect the one bad one?
Good cops? Bad cops?
It doesn’t matter whether there are any or none: see Warren v DC.
PTSD, sure, when you get in trouble, plead insanity and you’ll get off. Anyone who buys this nonsense about PTSD is just as foolish as the police officer.
First to very DL who said for every bad cop there is 1000 good cops. These are the same 1000 cops that turn a blind eye and protect a fellow bad cop everyday. Harless’s partner is just as guilty because he stood by and did nothing.Any citizen would have been charged with at least menacing if not aggraveted menacing but for some reason the Canton law director thought there was insufficent evidence. Did he watch the tape. Harless is a pussy and should be treated like one. And to all the 1000 good cops out there “CLEAN UP YOUR OWN HOUSE”