TPD officer indicted for vehicular assault

2/12/2018

A Toledo police officer who was involved in an on-duty traffic crash in December has been suspended without pay following his indictment for vehicular assault, a fourth-degree felony.

Officer Mohamad Nasser, 29, also was indicted by a Lucas County grand jury on misdemeanor charges of speeding and failure to obey a traffic control device.

Sgt. Kevan Toney, the police department’s spokesman, said that after the indictment was returned Friday, Officer Nasser was “relieved of duty without pay.” He said the officer had not returned to work since the Dec. 15 crash because of his injuries.

Officer Nasser was westbound on Heatherdowns Boulevard when his police cruiser collided with a car driven by Susan Schlageter, 67, of Toledo, who was turning north on Cheyenne Boulevard. Both drivers were seriously injured.

“The grand jury found that he was allegedly operating his vehicle recklessly when he passed through the intersection and struck the other vehicle, causing serious physical harm to the other driver,” said Jeff Lingo, chief of the criminal division for the Lucas County prosecutor’s office.

According to the charges, the officer, who was in uniform and on duty, was speeding at the time of the crash.

Mr. Lingo said the investigation showed that Officer Nasser was “not responding to an emergency call at the time of the accident.”

Police previously said that Officer Nasser, a community services officer who joined the department in 2013, was picking up toys for a holiday toy drive at the time of the crash.

If convicted of vehicular assault, he could face a prison sentence of six to 18 months.