Officer lied about woman confessing to get her arrested, Ohio cops say. Now she’s fired

A police officer wrote in a report that a woman confessed to a felony crime — but she didn’t, Ohio officials said.

A misconduct investigation has now led to Officer Brooke Cano’s firing from the Whitehall Division of Police, Chief Mike Crispen announced Dec. 12.

Officials haven’t announced any criminal charges against her.

McClatchy News attempted to reach Cano for comment Dec. 13 but did not immediately receive a response from her police union.

The investigation stems from an October report Cano wrote saying she and another officer were searching for a vehicle after the driver fled from officers on two recent occasions, WBNS reported.

They found the suspected vehicle and went to the driver’s workplace to question her, and Cano wrote in her report that the woman confessed to fleeing and took her into custody, according to documents obtained by The Columbus Dispatch.

The woman and her mother filed a complaint, and internal investigators found Cano documented a confession that never happened, according to police.

“This misconduct resulted in the wrongful arrest and felony charges against an innocent woman,” police said.

Cano had previously been suspended for three days in an unrelated incident in which she’s accused of using “excessive force against a pregnant woman,” Crispen said.

Cano also didn’t provide medical attention to the woman’s companion, police said.

Cano’s police union, Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 9, objected strongly to her dismissal, calling the charges “frivolous.”

“This termination isn’t just retaliatory; it’s a smack in the face to every officer who faithfully serves our community,” union president Brian Steel said in a statement.

Steel said Cano would be “vindicated.” The union is calling on the City Council to investigate the Whitehall Division of Police and its chief.

Whitehall is a suburb of Columbus.