Oakwood Police Officer Tiffany Conley McCalister is on
administrative leave after her husband and fellow Officer John McCalister was
accused of assaulting a man inside a Rite Aid Pharmacy in Dayton on Oct.14.
Tiffany McCalister was a witness to the alleged assault.
OAKWOOD — Oakwood Officer John McCalister allegedly punched
a man inside a Dayton drug store after the man asked McCalister to exchange
money with him, according to Oakwood Public Safety Director Alex Bebris.
The alleged assault
took place Oct. 14 in the Rite Aid Pharmacy, 1158 Wilmington Ave., when
McCalister and his wife and fellow Oakwood Officer Tiffany McCalister were
off-duty and not in uniform, Bebris said Tuesday.
The man told Dayton
police he asked John McCalister if they could exchange change so that he could
wash his clothes at a nearby laundromat. The victim said McCalister cursed at
him before striking him several times.
Tiffany McCalister
witnessed the alleged assault, Bebris said.
The McCalisters refused to be interviewed by Dayton police,
Bebris said. However, they will be interviewed for Oakwood’s internal
investigation.
On Monday, Nov. 2,
McCalister was charged with misdemeanor assault in Dayton Municipal Court. He
is scheduled to be arraigned Nov. 13. Both McCalisters have been placed on
administrative leave.
In letters dated Oct.
30 to each of the McCalisters, Bebris said their alleged actions during the
incident “amounted to conduct unbecoming an Oakwood Public Safety Officer.”
“Both Tiffany and
John have prior incidents of discipline,” Bebris said. However, the details of
those events were removed from their personnel files as part of an agreement
between the city and the union that represents the city law enforcement
officers.
John McCalister was a Dayton firefighter for 10 years prior
to joining the Oakwood Public Safety Department in 1995. Tiffany McCalister was
a Dayton police officer from 1999 to 2007.
The McCalisters’
absence creates restrictions for some of the department’s 21 other officers,
Bebris said.
“It does restrict
other people’s (opportunities to have) time off,” Bebris said.