East Liverpool City Council votes down settlement agreement with former officer

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — A settlement agreement hammered out between the city of East Liverpool and former police officer Christopher Green was voted down by city council Monday.

The case has been in federal court for over a year, costing the city thousands of dollars in legal fees.

According to our print partner The Morning Journal, the settlement would have given Green a monetary award of $240,000 and his job back. Green had been asking for $1.7 million.

The civil lawsuit has cost the city $180,000 in attorney fees so far and could easily go up to another $300,000 to $400,000 if the case continues, Mayor Robert Smith told the Morning Journal.

The settlement was approved by the East Liverpool Finance Committee but couldn’t get the support of city council. According to the Morning Journal, the finance committee could pick it up and represent it or it could head back to litigation where Green is requesting a jury trial .

Green, of Columbiana, filed the lawsuit in March 2023 , alleging that the city and other employees conspired in his firing after he reported misconduct by fellow officers to the FBI. Green maintained that his comments were protected speech and that his firing was a violation of the First Amendment.

In a filing dated June 11 in U.S. Court for the Northern District of Ohio, the parties had come to a settlement agreement but it needed to be approved by city council.

City officials maintain that Green was fired over his actions during a police call in June 2021 in connection to a fight involving former Safety Service Director Brian Allen. They said Green lied about what happened, and he was placed on leave in March 2021 after an investigation.

He was subsequently fired. Green appealed the firing, but it was upheld by an arbitrator.

WKBN 27 First News first spoke with Green when he was exposed to fentanyl during his work as a police officer in 2017. At that time, Green became severely ill and it took him several months to recover.

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