CANTON, Ohio – The Canton police officer who was caught on camera making death threats, and yelling and screaming at people he pulled over, is eligible to get his job back.
Daniel Harless was fired in January for repeatedly harassing drivers during traffic stops. On Sunday, an arbitrator ruled that Harless was eligible to get his job back if he first got medical clearance.
As of 11:50 a.m. Thursday, Harless has not applied to get his job back.
Three dash cam videos showed Harless making death threats during a traffic stop and in one of the stops, Harless and his partner were seen pulling a car over for no apparent reason.
After interrogating the passengers inside about their activities, Harless told one person, “If you scratch you balls wrong, I’m going to pull my gun and I am going to shoot you.”
NewsChannel5 also obtained more than 700 pages of records on Harless from the Canton Police Department. The records showed a total of 18 internal affairs complaints against Harless since 2000. In 15 of the cases, Harless was exonerated.
Harless became the subject of national attention after dash cam video of him yelling, cursing and making death threats during a traffic stop went viral in July.
A second dash cam video of a July 2010 traffic stop showing Harless exhibiting similar behavior surfaced one week later.
