Ohio police chief fired for refusing to take drug test after mayor claims his office reeked of marijuana
An Ohio police chief is jobless for refusing to take a drug test after the mayor claimed she smelled an odor of marijuana that could “knock you off your feet” from his office, according to a report.
The New Miami Village Council unanimously voted to terminate Police Chief Harold Webb on June 27, according to a letter from the mayor’s office obtained by Fox 19.
The drama leading to the firing began on June 20 when Mayor Jewell Hayes-Hensley claimed Webb’s office reeked of the devil’s lettuce while she and a council member were there collecting his daily logs.
“The first thing that came out of my mouth was who has been smoking weed in here,” the mayor of the tiny Butler County village wrote in the letter.
“The smell of Marijuana could knock you off your feet.”
Before he was fired, the village’s attorney hand-delivered a letter to Webb at his home on June 24 notifying him that he had until 5 p.m. the following day to take a drug test at the mayor’s request or face “disciplinary action.”
The former police chief arrived at the testing site on June 25 but reportedly refused to give a urine sample in front of a nurse as a witness, calling the whole ordeal “belittling.”
“You know what you win,” Webb texted Hayes-Hensley after refusing to take the test. “This is the third time you have questioned my integrity.”
He told her she would have his resignation letter that “evening.”
Webb, who had only been chief for about a year, claimed the odor was coming from more than 850 grams of marijuana flower the department seized during a raid in March, but his explanation fell on deaf ears.
“Sorry things didn’t work out,” Hayes-Hensley replied.
“Please turn in all your New Miami Village properties along with your resignation and leave all access to video cameras (and) computers turned over to me.”
However, Webb never turned in his resignation letter, and the New Miami Village Council voted unanimously to remove him from his position.
The small town’s mayor had previously accused Webb of a raft of other violations prior to claiming his office reeked of pot.
In the same letter, Hayes-Hensley accused Webb of stealing hot dogs from a gas station when only free soda was allowed on duty, refusing to respond to 911 calls, “theft of office,” falsifying timesheets and daily logs, and “cashing his paycheck knowing he was required to show proof of his being at work.”
In March, the mayor also placed Webb on administrative leave without pay for allowing inappropriate comments on the department’s Facebook page, including some posted by the former chief’s wife that allegedly called out the New Miami Village mayor, according to Fox 19.
Inappropriate and sexual comments were left on the public page for hours before being taken down, Hayes-Hensley said.
The entire Facebook page was taken down over the conduct.
The village council eventually voted to reinstate the chief in April after Webb’s lawyer, Jeff Gray, pointed out that his suspension violated Ohio law because the procedures were improperly followed.
However, upon his reinstatement, other mounting grievances were filed against him, including from some village employees, according to the outlet.
Gray told the outlet that no police officers working under his client ever filed grievances against him.
In a statement following the firing, Hayes-Hensley wrote that it was her “job to ensure the residents of our community are safe.”
“Council and I are working very hard to have a greater police presence in our village and do a major cleanup both with crime and housing. It is time that residents of the village of New Miami know they have a mayor and council working to put the community’s needs first and do everything within their power to make the village of New Miami a safe, clean, and thriving community.”
New Miami Village is a community of just over 2,200 residents and is about 38 miles outside Cincinnati.
According to the mayor, Capt. Dan Bower is expected to become acting police chief at the next council meeting later this month.
