New Boston Whistleblower: Part 1
In recent news, two officers (a Captain and Lieutenant) have been placed on administrative leave for the investigation in regards to an OVI /crash incident of a council member. However, the story published while partially factual hides the corruption behind the incident.
First, the incident, as it is being told, is very misleading to the point of inaccurate. On January 13th, 2021 council member, Vonald Patrick, was involved in a multi-car hit-skip crash on US 52, and an alleged OVI. Patrolman Kontras, was the first to be dispatched to the scene. Lt. Anderson being a supervisor on shift responded as well. (The Patrolman is not under investigation but was on scene). Due to the nature of the crash, (a multiple car crash at two separate scenes) the supervisor, Lt. Anderson, (who is a certified crash instructor with 26 years of experience as a trooper) took charge of the investigation. The Patrolman remained and assisted by taking statements from witnesses along with photos.
Lt. Anderson was unaware that Vonald Patrick was a Village council member until later advised by a firefighter on scene. Lt. Anderson notified his supervisor, Captain Deerfield, and continued the investigation. Vonald was unable to be arrested or cited on scene due to needing medical treatment. Vonald was transported to the hospital by EMS. After conducting an investigation of a 3 car crash, another victim of the hit-skip (who was not on the original scene) met with Lt. Anderson to provide information on their crash and make a report. Once the investigation was conducted and all victims’ information was obtained the council member, Vonald Patrick, was charged with OVI, hit-skip, and failure to control. Leaving the question on how officers failed to do their job, and why they are under investigation?
Chief Goins is currently on administrative leave due to the complaints of multiple officers, the complaints range in regards to sexual harassment, hostile work environment, and retaliation. Chief Goins had a disagreement with multiple officers, including the Captain and Lieutenant, prior to the OVI / crash incident. Chief Goins was Informed officers would likely be filing complaints against him. Both the Captain and Lieutenant made verbal complaints against Chief Goins prior to this incident, to Chief Goins himself, Mayor Williams, and Solicitor Blume. Chief Goins began retaliation immediately. Stripping the Captain of the majority of his duties, becoming extremely unreasonable with both the Captain and Lieutenant. Unable to reprimand/fire the officers, Chief Goins used the OVI incident to place the Captain and Lieutenant under investigation for the council- member’s OVI/crash incident as a retaliation to the complaints made against him. Chief Goins never informed the officers that they were under investigation, rather released a statement to the press. Officers and the administrative staff including the Mayor were not made aware until they read the statement in the press. Verbal complaints were made by at least 4 officers and written complaints by 3 officers.
The Patrolman who was first dispatched and present on the OVI/crash scene, active in the investigation, was not questioned or placed under any investigation, he has since transferred departments. The Patrolman was already working out his two-week notice when the OVI/crash occurred. On documents regarding this investigation, the Patrolman on scene was never named, questioned, or even mentioned as being on the scene, but it was frequently implied the Captain was on scene. Only the two officers who had made verbal and written complaints have been placed under investigation (the third officer remains on active duty) as Chief Goins was placed on administrative leave himself shortly after the incident (and that patrolman was not on duty during the OVI/crash incident), though retaliation of that patrolman had begun prior to Chief Goins being placed on leave.
Scioto County Sheriffs Department was requested to conduct an investigation, by the Village Solicitor and attorney, Justin Blume, into the Captain and Lieutenant to determine if any criminal conduct occurred during the investigation of the OVI/crash of the Council member.
Part 2 of this Letter to the Editor will be released tomorrow
