Toledo teachers union joins city safety forces in calling for Sykes resignation

5/22/2014

The Toledo Federation of Teachers is getting behind the city's safety forces in calling for the resignation of Toledo Councilman Larry Sykes, whose claims of police profiling were ruled unfounded after an internal police investigation.

“I think the voters of Toledo deserve better and if Mr. Sykes does not resign, I will be calling upon the council members for censure as well,” said Kevin Dalton, president of the educators' union which represents more than 2,000 teachers, para-professionals, and substitutes. “He has created a hostile environment which flies directly in the face of what this community has been trying to do for the past 18 months.”

RELATED: Firefighters ask Sykes to resign

Mr. Dalton was referring to the Changing Minds, Changing Lives community forums hosted by various community organizations, including The Blade, to discuss race and community relations.

Mr. Sykes, who is black, was pulled over by two white Toledo police officers April 24 and, several days later, wrote a letter to police Chief William Moton claiming that he had been profiled. The letter prompted an internal investigation that ultimately found that the two officers, Derek Cranford and David Sprott, were justified in stopping Mr. Sykes, who did not have a front license plate and had a plastic cover obstructing the readability of his back plate.

On Tuesday, Toledo Firefighters Local 92 leaders mailed a letter to Mr. Sykes calling for his resignation, an action that the Toledo Police Patrolman's Association President Dan Wagner demanded once the officers were cleared of any wrongdoing.

Mr. Dalton said he has not yet sent a formal letter to Mr. Sykes, a former Board of Education member who was elected to council in November, asking him to resign, but was working on a draft.