CLEVELAND — An officer and a 911 dispatcher have both been fired from the Cleveland Division of Police following separate investigations into their conduct on and off the job, respectively.
Sgt. Christopher Graham, a 25-year veteran of the force, was let go following a disciplinary hearing regarding an arrest he made back on Sept. 12, 2017. Specifically, he was accused of choking a woman and failing to tell her why she was being detained, while also lying about his actions later.
"Through your actions while on duty, you exhibited a complete disregard for ethical behavior relating to use of force and truthfulness," Cleveland Public Safety Director Karrie D. Howard wrote in Graham's termination letter. "All of the above, is completely unacceptable."
Graham previously received a 20-day suspension back in 2019, although it was not specified what that discipline was for. The now-51-year-old was charged back in 2017 with misdemeanor assault and unlawful restraint in relation to the incident that now has him out of a job, and the case is still pending in Cleveland Municipal Court almost four years later.
Meanwhile, dispatcher Kashauna Lowe was also fired following her arrest last September for OVI in Willoughby. The 23-year-old, who had been with the division since 2018, later pleaded guilty and was also accused of lying to officers about hitting a parked car while drunk.
"The conduct noted above has no place in any Department or Division within the City of Cleveland," Howard wrote. "It is not reasonable to assert, that citizens are not concerned with the integrity of those answering their emergency calls."
Besides her arrest, Lowe was also written up more than a dozen times for on-the-job offenses during her tenure, with all instances involving her not showing up to work when she was supposed to. For her criminal charge, Lowe had her driver's license suspended for one year and also received a year of probation.
Det. Jeff Follmer, President of the Cleveland Police Patrolmen's Association, was at Lowe's pre-disciplinary hearing but nor Graham's. 3News has reached out to him for comment on both firings.
