Deputy given suspension over gun lapse

3/14/2014

A Lucas County sheriff’s deputy who allowed a handgun to get through security screening at Toledo Municipal Court is to serve a 10-day unpaid suspension, officials said. It is to begin Wednesday.

Deputy Barry DiSalle, 68, was given the suspension for inattention/​carelessness in the performance of duty, said Capt. Don Atkinson of the sheriff’s internal affairs unit.

Deputy DiSalle also was reassigned and no longer will work in court security, he said.

The deputy was working the screening area at the court’s entrance Feb. 10 when he became distracted and did not see a purse containing a gun pass through the X-ray machine until its owner had entered the building.

The woman was found near the prosecutor’s office and permitted deputies to search her purse. Captain Atkinson said the woman said she had been at the Hollywood Casino the night before and her companion had placed the gun in her purse for safekeeping, then forgot it was there.

He had a concealed-carry permit, but the permit has been pulled, Captain Atkinson said.