Related links

PERRY TOWNSHIP, Ohio -- A highly respected police chief suddenly retires amidst allegations of impropriety. A video tape has surfaced that's at the center of controversy.

On June 2, 2009 police say Perry Township Chief Timothy Escola went to Cincinnati in a police cruiser to pick up a prisoner.

The police chief wasn't alone during that ride. Another officer went with him.

The two were videotaped inside the cruiser. It shows a female officer touching Escola's neck and face. She turns around and checks on the prisoner numerous times, who was asleep in the back seat. She also kissed the chief on several occasions with her head resting on his shoulder.

Township Trustee Lee Laubacher told FOX 8, "What he did was wrong, because he had a prisoner in the car and having a prisoner in the car put him on duty. Anything you do in there now becomes public."

The Township's Law Director, Charles Hall, says an anonymous source tipped officials off about the cruiser video tape.

When a request was put in for the tape the law director says Escola tendered his retirement notice.

In the letter Escola says, "I have been committed to this township for the past four years, and am now looking forward to spending quality time with my family, and pursuing personal interests."

Reporter Kristy Steeves spoke to the former chief on Wednesday, the morning after the Board of Trustees accepted his retirement. Escola said he did not have sex with the officer, saying "that the tape will show that."

The former chief has also requested a copy of the tape to view it himself.

The attorney representing the former chief, Craig Conley, issued a statement that says, Escola apologizes to his family and to the citizens of Perry Township for engaging in inappropriate behavior.

Conley went on to say, "[Escola] accepts full responsibility and accountability for his actions, along with the attendant consequences."

The statement later reads, "More importantly, without attempting to 'bypass' his own misconduct, to the extent what appears to be a 'gerry-rigging' of the cruiser camera occurred, Mr. Escola expects appropriate law enforcement agencies to investigate and, if merited, to bring criminal charges against the culprit. Along those same lines, Mr. Escola also expects an attempt to 'blackmail' him into resigning will be investigated and, if merited, criminal charges will be brought against the culprit as well. In that regard, Mr. Escola leaves those 'collateral', but obviously very serious matters to the sound discretion of those agencies and he does so with high confidence in our justice system."

The prisoner in the car, 28-year-old Matthew Ruble, had been arrested for burglary. He says he witnessed what he considers inappropriate behavior between the two officers. "She had her arm around his neck rubbing his shoulders. I never seen them kiss but they were touchy feely."

Ruble says he fell asleep for about an hour. After learning about the video and what transpired while he was sleeping, he told FOX 8 he's offended: "It was inappropriate. They should've never done that. They were on the job. They drove 300 miles to pick me up. Pretty much endangered my life too. They're sitting there doing what they're doing and he's not even paying attention to the road."

Ruble was in jail for two days, then let go, after authorities realized they had the wrong person.

Ruble says the day of the alleged burglary he was at work in Cincinnati. He says his bosses and co-workers vouched for him, yet he was arrested.

"I think the reason they wanted to arrest me was so they could get away, that they could be together," he said.

Escola's attorney, Craig Conley, says that's unlikely. "It' pretty far fetched to think they would go to such an elaborate amount of time in a government vehicle to arrest him just so they could get away. That's pretty outrageous."

The township's law director says there is no longer a need for an investigation into the video tape matter because the chief tendered his resignation.

Charles Hall also said there will be no disciplinary action taken against the female officer because he doesn't feel it's warranted.

After doing an investigation into allegations that the camera had been gerry-rigged, the law director says he found that the car in question had been sitting in the parking lot at the police station for several days and the battery was dead.

Escola and England had to jump start it. The camera runs off the car battery.

Hall says he thinks what happened is one of the two officers accidentally put the camera in what's called "covert mode", which is used to video tape a prisoner without the prisoner's knowledge.

The law director believes either Escola or England put the camera into covert mode without realizing it.

Matthew Ruble thinks so too based on his experience with the two officers inside the cruiser. "When they put me in the back of the car they read me my Miranda Rights and then they said, 'Matt you're going to be videotaped throughout the questioning and the video camera is on', and they told me on several different occasions that the cameras on."

The law director told FOX 8 that the investigation is now over and he hopes this case is closed, once and for all.

Ruble says it might be far from over. He wants to file a lawsuit against Escola, England and Perry Township for defamation of character, wrongful imprisonment and endangering his life.

Ruble is meeting with an attorney, Brian Zimmerman, who might take the case. Zimmerman told FOX 8 he's investigating the officers' trip to Cincinnati and the burglary charge that was filed against Ruble and then dismissed two days later.