City police investigate colleague in abuse case

10/29/2005

Toledo police are conducting an internal investigation of an officer accused of assaulting his live-in girlfriend, who is the mother of his children.

Officer Shawn Parra, 31, who was hired in 1999, is charged in Toledo Municipal Court with misdemeanor domestic violence and assault. A motion for a temporary protection order was filed with the domestic violence complaint.

Court records state the officer was arguing with Brittany Hummel, 30, at their South Toledo home Oct. 18 when he punched and slapped her several times on the face. She had no visible injury, the records state.

The officer was arrested, booked into the Lucas County jail, and released on a supervised bond. His case was continued after his arraignment, but no court date has been set.

Gregg Harris, president of the Toledo Police Patrolman's Association, said the officer remains on duty. He declined further comment.

A former Toledo City Council candidate and environmental activist arrested in Tennessee on Lucas County charges was released from jail there yesterday after authorities here did not want to pay for his return.

Rick VanLandingham, who was released from the Union County jail, Maynardville, Tenn., said he planned to return to Ohio to answer the charges, a jail official said.

Mr. VanLandingham was arrested Oct. 10 on warrants for records tampering and forgery. He waived extradition and was to be picked up by Oct. 21, but local authorities received a one-week extension.

He was not returned to Toledo because of the transportation expenses, estimated at $4,000 to $5,000, and his medical condition from a shooting last year, said John Weglian, chief of the special units division of the Lucas County prosecutor's office.

Mr. VanLandingham was shot Dec. 26 outside an Eastgate Road apartment building. David Conley of South Toledo was indicted for felonious assault and aggravated robbery, but the charges were dropped because Mr. VanLandingham could not be located to testify.

DETROIT - The city of Detroit is being sued by a disability rights group that claims several city sidewalks and intersections are impassable by people in wheelchairs.

Michigan Paralyzed Veterans of America, in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court here, says the city is in violation of the federal Americans With Disabilities Act. At issue are cuts in sidewalk curbs that allow wheelchair-users to enter and cross streets at intersections. The suit says many intersections either don't have them or that they are defective, uneven, or too steep.

Toledo was sued in 1998 and consequently agreed in a 2003 settlement to rebuild, over a five-year period, 1,844 sidewalk ramps installed since 1992.

Since 2003, the city has spent nearly $2.6 million replacing 1,907 ramps. Additional ramps were replaced as part of the city's roadway and sidewalk reconstruction programs, bringing the total number up to 3,436 ramps replaced.