The City of Beachwood has reached a settlement with the Fraternal Order of Police concerning their dispute with Officer Blake Rogers, who was terminated by the city after he was involved in a shooting at Beachwood Place in June 2019, according to the City of Beachwood.
In June 2019,an alleged theft at Beachwood Mallled Rogers to fire rounds in a parking lot north of Saks Fifth Avenue. The suspect, later identified as 19-year-old Jaquan Jones, jumped into a car and fled. The car had previously been reported stolen out of Cleveland.
Jones was arrested in July 2019 by an undercover task force comprised of the Cleveland Division of Police Heroin Involved Death Investigation Unit and First District patrol officers, according to a news release from the city of Beachwood.
Rogers was placed on administrative leave after the incident. In Oct. 2020, after the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation completed its investigation, the Ohio Attorney General’s office presented its finding to a grand jury that issued a No Bill, declining to incident Rogers, court records state.
Former mayor Martin Horwitz said that based on the city’s police procedures manual, it would begin its own internal investigation, something he says he couldn’t do until BCI and the attorney general’s office finished their work.
According to the city of Beachwood, Rogers was subsequently terminated following an investigation into the incident. The FOP appealed his termination, and it was reversed. It was ordered by the arbitrator that Rogers be reinstated with back pay.
The City of Beachwood appealed the arbitration with the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas, where Judge Peter Corrigan denied the city's appeal and ordered Rogers to be reinstated with back pay.
The City of Beachwood has appealed Judge Corrigan's decision with the Eighth District Court of Appeals. While the appeal is pending, the city and the FOP reached a tentative agreement to be approved by the city council.
As part of the agreement, Rogers will be reinstated to the police department, receive $230,000 in back pay and have 400 hours deducted from his sick leave balance, according to officials.
"His return to duty is conditioned on him obtaining Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy (OPOTA) recertification and passing standard fitness for duty examinations," said the City of Beachwood.
Watch live and local news any time:
Download the News 5 Cleveland app now for more stories from us, plus alerts on major news, the latest weather forecast, traffic information and much more. Download now on your Apple device here, and your Android device here.
You can also catch News 5 Cleveland on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, YouTube TV, DIRECTV NOW, Hulu Live and more. We're also on Amazon Alexa devices. Learn more about our streaming options here.
