BEACHWOOD, OH — A Northeast Ohio police officer previously accused of abusing his authority has been indicted in a different case, accused of using law enforcement records to look up a woman and ask her out on a date.
Tyler Smith is charged with unauthorized use of the law enforcement automated database system for an incident that investigators said happened last November while Smith was a police officer with the University Hospitals Ahuja Medical Center Police Department.
According to a police report, a nursing student told officers she met a police officer named Tyler in an elevator.
She told investigators the whole conversation lasted 15 to 30 seconds and that was it.
But later that night, when the woman walked out of the hospital, she told police she noticed a police car in the parking lot and felt like it was following her.
According to a police report, she stated, “while she was leaving the parking lot, the patrol car was behind her the whole time.”
She told police a man called, identified himself as “Tyler, the officer from the elevator,” and said he got her number from a little birdie.
The nursing student told investigators, “She felt creeped out and told him she had to get off the phone to use GPS,” according to the report.
The woman told police Tyler texted her shortly after she got off the phone.
Investigators said records showed Smith used a law enforcement database to search the woman’s license plate seven minutes before calling her.
It's something Case Western Reserve University Professor of Law Ayesha Bell Hardaway called a big deal.
“Officers are trained on the fact they are not to use this database improperly, and if they do, not only are they facing being fired but they’ll also be brought up on felony charges,” said Bell Hardaway. “And someone who flouts those warnings and engages in this conduct anyway is dangerous.”
State records show UH Police hired Smith in June 2020, just over three months after his previous employer, Shaker Heights, settled a federal lawsuit involving Smith.
In the suit, a woman claimed Smith offered to get rid of her ticket if she had sex with him.
In court filings, Smith denied her claims, but the city settled for $90,000.
Records showed Smith resigned weeks later saying he was seeking a position more conducive to his “growing family unit.”
A UH spokesperson did not say if the hospital was aware of the lawsuit when Smith was hired, but said Smith was suspended and then terminated after they learned of the most recent allegations.
“UH has cooperated fully with authorities during this investigation,” wrote UH spokesperson Mike Tobin in a statement. “We are constantly evaluating our hiring procedures to best serve our patients and the community.”
But News 5 Investigators learned Smith isn’t unemployed while facing the felony charge.
Highland Hills’ law director confirmed the 36-year-old is still a corporal with the village’s police department.
Personnel records show Smith was placed on administrative duty following his indictment last week.
Smith also had his access to the state database suspended, according to the records.
Neither Smith nor his attorney has responded to requests for comments on the case.
Smith is scheduled to be arraigned in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court next week.
