In early January, 21 News reported that an arbitrator had ruled in favor of a Youngstown Police Officer who was terminated in 2022 for alleged dereliction of duty. Now, the city has responded by suing the Youngstown Fraternal Order of Police.

Lieutenant Brian Flynn was terminated from the Youngstown Police Department in December of 2022 after he allegedly failed to investigate more than a dozen child sexual abuse or child pornography cases. Charges of dereliction of duty were dismissed in June of 2023.

The suit from the city says there were 40 tips that weren't investigated with one involving "hands-on abuse of an infant female" and several more involving one suspect, who by the time authorities investigated had over six live victims in his control.

The arbitrator who ruled in favor of Flynn said there was no written policy about investigating email tips and that the tips had gone into Flynn's junk mail folder. 

The arbitrator further said Flynn thought the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations (BCI) and the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force were supposed to handle the investigation.

The arbitrator asked a judge to reinstate Flynn to YPD with his seniority and benefits intact and with backpay.

However, the city slams the arbitrator's reasoning calling it "dog ate my homework excuses" and is asking the judge not to reinstate Flynn.

"Notably absent from the arbitrator's decision was any meaningful analysis regarding just cause or, more importantly, whether or not Flynn's conduct was 'serious,'" the suit reads.

The suit alleges that Flynn lied during his testimony at one point directly quoting the arbitrator's findings:

"I do not believe the ICAC (Internet Crimes Against Children) Task Force miraculously found their way into [Flynn's] clutter or spam email. He would have had to have initially placed them there."

"The severity of this misconduct apparently did not weigh into the arbitrators analysis. Despite the foregoing, the arbitrator concluded that a two-week suspension was a more appropriate punishment for Flynn after he intentionally deleted 40 child sex crime leads and lying about it under oath," the city said in the suit.

As of this writing, a judge has not made a ruling on whether or not to reinstate Flynn.