NORTH OLMSTED, OH — Cleveland Police confirm an off-duty officer accused of drunkenly smashing his car into a North Olmsted pizza restaurant this week was already on restricted duty before that crash because of a separate criminal investigation.
Court documents obtained by News 5 Investigators show North Olmsted detectives have been investigating Officer Gary Kane since late March for a separate reported incident.
According to records, in May, detectives searched Kane’s Olmsted Township home and seized three cell phones and collected a DNA sample from the Cleveland police officer in connection with that alleged incident.
Because Kane has not been criminally charged in that case, we’ve chosen not to reveal the specific allegations made against him.
But because of that investigation, Cleveland police took the nine-year veteran off the streets and placed him on restricted duty.
Kane was arrested early Wednesday, after North Olmsted police said he crashed his Volkswagen through a window of Romeo’s Pizza on Lorain Road around 2:40 a.m.
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Body camera video showed Kane refusing to answer officers’ questions and refusing field sobriety tests at the scene.
The video also showed Kane had his Cleveland police uniform in his backseat at the time of the crash.
Kane, who worked as a patrol officer in Cleveland’s Fifth District, was arrested and charged with operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol or drugs and failure to control.
He’s scheduled to be arraigned on the charges on Sept. 11.
Kane's attorney said he was waiting to ascertain the facts in the drunk driving case, but said he was not aware of the second investigation.
A Cleveland police spokesman said the department’s internal affairs unit will be monitoring the outcome of both investigations involving Kane.
