NEWS

City disciplines 4 firefighters for bar incident

Spenser Hickey
Reporter

MARION — The city’s internal investigation into an Aug. 16 incident at a Logan County bar ended with four firefighters being disciplined for “conduct unbecoming an employee of the city,” according to Marion Safety Director Tom Robbins.

Robbins said the city employee handbook’s section 45 has rules about conduct toward members of the public, and this case “falls right in there.”

Three of the four — Assistant Chief Robert Cowell, Captain Adam Fetter and firefighter Robert Stone — have pending cases in Bellefontaine Municipal Court and have pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Robert Cowell

All three were charged with obstructing official business, with Cowell facing an additional criminal trespassing charge and Fetter charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct.

“I am not aware of any incident like this by any of (these) individuals,” Robbins said.

Based on the internal investigation, Cowell will receive a 48-hour suspension without pay and Fetter will receive a 24-hour suspension without pay. Each suspension could be divided into 8- to 24-hour shifts.

Adam Fetter

“(The suspensions) would be scheduled by the fire chief, in relationship to his staffing levels, so the fire department would certainly try to make sure it does not impact any staffing issues or create any overtime,” Robbins said.

Firefighter Robert Stone received a written reprimand.

Robert Stone

Firefighter Aaron Niederkohr received an oral reprimand for the incident. Niederkohr was not charged, but his removal by Logan County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Tom Meek reportedly started the incident that led to the arrest of the three firefighters.

Niederkohr had allegedly done a cannonball dive into the bar pool twice in violation of establishment rules, and did so a second time after Meek reportedly told him it wasn’t allowed.

A call to Marion Fire Department spokesman Wade Ralph was not returned Tuesday.

shickey@marionstar.com

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Twitter: @SpenserHickey