Five Columbus Police Officers Involved In Stormy Daniels’ Arrest Last Year Face Discipline

Five officers from the Columbus police department are facing discipline after being involved in Stormy Daniels‘ arrest in a strip club raid last year.

On Wednesday, the department said that the officers could face punishment ranging from a reprimand to firing. The officers include a commander, lieutenant, sergeant and two of the arresting officers, who were all part of a unit that was later disbanded.

Police Chief Tom Quinlan made the decision to charge the officers involved departmentally because they “violated the Columbus Division of Police rules of conduct.”

Daniels was arrested at Sirens in July 2018 under suspicion of inappropriately touching an undercover officer.

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Prosecutors dropped charges against Daniels and said that the law cited in her arrest only applied to those who regularly performed at the club.

Daniel’s filed a federal defamation lawsuit in January for $2 million in federal court in Columbus against several Columbus police officers.

The Columbus police department announced that a review found the arrest was improper but not planned or politically motivated.

An attorney representing Daniels in her defamation lawsuit, Chase Mallory, said that he doesn’t know the specifics involving the department charges, but he would disagree with any finding “that the arrest wasn’t politically motivated or at least motivated by improper reasons.”

He also mentioned, “from our initial review of the facts, it was clear that Stormy was targeted for a high-profile arrest.”

The vice unit was disbanded in March and Quinlan has said that the vice-related crimes will be handled differently and with a community-based approach.