Omaha police officer’s appeal denied, will be terminated for ‘use of force’ incident in 2020

By CNN Newsource

Published June 22, 2022 10:15 AM

By KETV Staff

OMAHA, Nebraska (KETV) — A fired Omaha police officer will not get his job back, the department announced Tuesday.

Arbitrators rejected Grant Gentile’s appeal, according to the department. Omaha Police Chief Todd Schmaderer fired Gentile in 2020 over a “use of force” incident.

Schmaderer said in 2020 that Gentile fired a pepper ball gun at a protestor’s groin area and inappropriately talked about it among other officers.

“The matter was uncovered by the safety review board as they were diving through body cam footage. They saw something that didn’t seem right to them,” he said.

In 2020, Schmaderer reviewed the department’s response to more than 60 different events in Omaha during that summer in a 78-page civil unrest report. Some of it is redacted, he said due to tactical, security information.

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