NORTH ROYALTON, Ohio — Following the recent termination of a North Royalton police officer who arrested the then-Orange Village Deputy Police Chief, residents are calling for the removal of the mayor for his involvement in the firing.
The North Royalton Police Department fired an officer who filed a whistleblower complaint and demoted another officer for the improper copying and dissemination of confidential records following an October 2025 traffic stop in which Orange Village's deputy chief was arrested for OVI.
According to a news release from North Royalton Police, Officer Spencer Lowe was terminated last week, and Sergeant FloAnn Rybicki has been demoted from the rank of sergeant.
North Royalton Police stated in the news release that Lowe was let go for "improperly obtained and disseminated confidential departmental documents outside authorized departmental channels."
Rybicki was said to have "accessed departmental systems, printed confidential records, and provided those materials to Patrolman Lowe without authorization and outside established procedures."
Deputy chief arrested
The traffic stop, which involved now-retired Orange Village Deputy Chief Patrick O'Callahan, happened on Oct. 11, 2025. Lowe pulled O'Callahan over for driving 55 mph in a 35 mph zone and repeatedly swerving out of his lane.
O'Callahan was charged with OVI, speeding, and not driving on the right side of the road. During the encounter, Lowe seized several guns from the deputy chief's car.
Lowe later claimed his supervisors removed a felony firearm charge without his knowledge or permission from the arrest report.
O'Callahan was placed on leave and then retired from the Orange Village Police Department a few weeks after his arrest. He was later convicted of OVI.
North Royalton Police conducted an internal affairs investigation into the matter, and last month, Mayor Larry Antoskiewicz signed a notice of disciplinary action proposing Lowe's termination.
RELATED: North Royalton takes steps to fire officer who filed whistleblower complaint against police brass
The investigation and whistleblower complaint
Through his attorney, Lowe said he filed a police report that included charges of OVI, a traffic violation, and a felony charge for improperly handling a firearm in a motor vehicle.
Lowe alleged Police Chief Keith Tarase told Lt. Jim Cutler to delete the felony charge.
Lowe's attorney then filed a whistleblower complaint with Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O'Malley and the mayor.
The mayor hired an attorney to conduct an independent investigation. Attorney James Hofelich cleared Tarase and Cutler of wrongdoing after they removed the felony charge.
An internal affairs investigation found Lowe, with assistance from Rybicki, "removed department records without authorization."
In the news release, the department stated that "the underlying allegations made against department leadership regarding the original arrest were previously investigated by an independent outside investigator and no misconduct by department leadership was found."
North Royalton Police Chief speaks out for the first time
On Tuesday, during North Royalton's City Council meeting, Chief Keith Tarase showed a packed room of residents the system that the department uses to file reports. It's called Sundance Systems.
He said he personally read through the report the day after it was filed.
Patrol officers do not have access to report history; only sergeants and above do, according to Tarase.
He said anytime someone goes into a report or alters it, it's logged in the system.
Tarase said that while the narrative report had the felony charge of mishandling a firearm in a motor vehicle, it was not in the summary report, which is where all charges are to be listed in the last paragraph.
Because of that, Tarase said he had questions for Lowe.
He also mentioned how red flags were raised when reading in the report that Lowe saw O'Callahan's uniform belt in "plain sight," then it was noted in a different section that it was "under a uniform shirt."
Tarase said this caused him to have even more questions.
He then watched body and dash camera footage of the incident, mentioning Lowe had to hit a speed of 58 MPH to catch up to O'Callahan's car before turning his lights on.
Due to that, Tarase said Lowe was unable to catch a real pace to confidently say O'Callahan was speeding.
"The report is not matching what is showing in the video," Tarase said on Tuesday. "The problem we have is a badly written police report approved by the sergeant. My concern is looking out for the department."
Tarase said the city prosecutor is the one who said the felony charge would not be filed.
"Nowhere did we change the narrative or the facts of the case as reported," Tarase said.
Tarase wrapped up by saying he felt like he'd done nothing wrong in this instance.
He also said he doesn't know O'Callahan, nor has he ever spoken with anyone employed by the Orange Village Police Department.
"We were left with no options," Tarase said in reference to the mayor authorizing an internal investigation that led to the termination of Lowe.
Tarase added that no outside agency would open an investigation into this matter, so the mayor authorized an internal one, which found that Lowe collected documents and sent those outside the agency inappropriately.
"It's a bit disconcerting that residents... have been unable to remove me and are now taking it out on the mayor for supporting me," Tarase said.
Petition to recall Mayor Larry Antoskiewicz for his involvement in the firing of Spencer Lowe
Nicolle Cruse is one of the petition organizers who told me on Tuesday that the petition is meant to tackle corruption.
"We're just kind of standing up for him (Lowe), and we just feel like it's just an unjust system here in North Royalton," Cruse said. "We're trying to get a recall of the mayor, who I actually voted for initially."
The goal is to obtain roughly 1,700 valid signatures, but they're aiming for 2,400 as a precaution.
Cruse said they have about half of the signatures needed.
"From when I checked with Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, there's no deadline. However, we're giving ourselves a deadline because we wanna get it done. Originally, I said 30 days. It's gonna be a little more than that just because it's a lot of work. I'd say within the next few weeks we'll have it," Cruse said.
If enough signatures are collected and validated, Cruse said the recall would be its own special election, separate from the May and November ballots.
I reached out to Mayor Antoskiewicz for an interview twice on Tuesday, but didn't hear back. He was also not in attendance at the council meeting.
"You're not gonna pull the wool over our eyes with this stuff. We're gonna stand up and do what's right and stand up for those that are good officers here in our city," Cruse said. "He's who we have the power to recall, and he's kind of in charge of everything. He hired the chief. He's refusing to get rid of the chief after over 80% of the officers in North Royalton signed a vote of no confidence against him, saying hostile work environment, among many other things, but he did nothing about it. When that happens, and then this incident happened with Spencer Lowe, and the mayor just continues to look past everything, and then he gets rid of someone after speaking out against what happened, then that's where we see the problem."
She said the buck doesn't stop with the mayor. She wants to see consequences for both the police chief and the law director, too.
Another recall petition organizer, Michael Beck, said residents simply want transparency from their city officials.
"We asked for an explanation of why they did this, and we were met with a deafening silence. From there, we moved on to a recall, and so what we're looking for now is to put this in front of the citizens of North Royalton so that they can make a decision. Is this behavior becoming of a mayor or should we move on?" Beck said.
He feels like the community has given a good response to the petition, not only signing it, but also providing feedback on other problems in the city.
Beck said he would've preferred that the mayor step down on his own, but seeing as he won't, Beck added that this is the only option left.
"We have a lot of respect for the position. We have a lot of expectations for the position of the mayor and also the safety director, which he holds both hats. We feel he's betrayed our trust. As citizens of North Royalton, we believe we deserve answers, and we deserve him to act accordingly. He should be held to a high standard, and we believe that he has not held himself to that high standard," Beck said.
The next petition signing event is April 27 at the North Royalton Public Library from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
If you'd like more information on the petition effort, click HERE.
