Trooper accused of firing gun is let go

7/25/2002

An Ohio Highway Patrol trooper accused of firing a gun in front of a Swanton Township home while off-duty and allegedly filing a false report about a stolen gun was fired yesterday, the Ohio Highway Patrol said.

Trooper Rosemary Sullivan was terminated for untruthfulness and conduct unbecoming of an officer as of 5 p.m. yesterday. She had had a predisciplinary hearing Tuesday, Lt. John Born, an OHP spokesman in Columbus, said.

The trooper was indicted July 13 by a Lucas County grand jury on one count of aggravated menacing and two counts each of tampering with evidence and falsification and arraigned July 17 in Lucas County Common Pleas Court.

A South Eber Road resident told investigators she saw the trooper fire a gun from a passing vehicle on June 1. An hour before, Trooper Sullivan and the trooper's husband quarreled with the woman's teenage sons about riding all-terrain vehicles and bicycles, the woman has said.

The woman later said she did not see Trooper Sullivan, but the woman's teen son told deputies he saw a flash of a weapon fired from a Jeep similar to the one owned by the trooper.

A shell casing was found near the roadway, investigators said.

A 10-year veteran of the patrol, Trooper Sullivan had been assigned to the Swanton post.

She was initially assigned to office duties while authorities investigated the allegations but was later allowed to return to patrolling the turnpike.