Last August, Scene brought you the tale of Ralph Flynn, a Cuyahoga Falls police officer who was facing criminal charges after he put his 10 and 12 year old daughters in the hospital with bruises and broken arms.
It hadn’t been Flynn’s first run in with the law. A few years earlier, Flynn had been fired from the Cuyahoga Falls Police Department after he had beaten his girlfriend. But Flynn didn’t walk away without a fight. He filed a grievance and won reinstatement in 2005…
When we first ran the story, dozens of readers weighed in with their passionate takes on Flynn’s latest bought of domestic violence. Some accused him of being a total scumbag, while others accused us of being scumbags for calling Flynn a scumbag. At the time, Flynn had yet to be convicted.
But last week, Flynn pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault. We might be wrong, but innocent men don’t usually plead guilty to crimes they didn’t commit.
Now the big question is whether the Cuyahoga Falls Department will finally be able to fire Flynn. After Flynn’s first victory, Chief John Conley says that they are being extra careful in determining his employment status. “Last year, Ralph Flynn entered into a written agreement between the City of Cuyahoga Falls and himself and the Fraternal Order of Police Labor Council,” Conley says. “The agreement stated that the city would postpone any investigation regarding the charges against Officer Flynn until such time as a resolution on his criminal case had been made.”
Conley says that they are now waiting for Flynn’s May 1 sentencing before starting their own investigation. Special Prosecutor Paul Scarsella has recommended that the department fire Flynn, and that the Ohio Peace Officers Academy revoke his certification.
“Nobody wins in this case,” Conley says. “Not the city, Ralph Flynn or his children, and that’s what’s really sad and that’s really what Ralph Flynn needs to focus on for the next couple weeks until his sentencing.” – Denise Grollmus
Nobody does win in this case. The ones that lose are Flynn's children They lose health care and any means of support and all the money wasted on attorney's could have gone to his children. Sometimes people do take a plea in order to get things over with and do what is best for their children. A lot of innocent people do take a plea to avoid the frustrations of going to trial and to do what is best in the long run. This man is human and just becuase he is a cop doesn't mean he does not make mistakes. This man I am sure has done a lot of good in his job and unless anyone has done the job of police officer or fireman they do not know what you have to go through and how that job affects you. This so called report has no clue what a cop has to deal with on a daily basis and that stress may have affected Flynn. Flynn had no chance from the beginning once the media got inovolved so he probably di the right thing not to put his family through this. Good luck Flynn I hope you can keep your job because I know that department has turned on you and will stab you in the back.
Posted at: April 9, 2008 9:35 AM