Columbus police officer faces 9 charges

She is accused of failing to investigate 8 crashes

A Columbus police officer who investigated serious injury and fatal crashes has been charged criminally with nine misdemeanor counts of dereliction of duty.

Franklin County Municipal Court records show officer Connie Brant, a 24-year division veteran who worked the past nine years in the Accident Investigation Unit, was charged Thursday with failing to properly investigate serious injury crashes or present charges to the Franklin County Prosecutor’s office within the statute of limitations.

The charging documents accuse Brant of failing to properly investigate eight serious injury crashes between March and July 2016. One charge involves a fatal crash from May 2016.

Brant is accused of failing to get lab results, not reviewing medical records and not filing charges, including vehicular manslaughter in the case of the fatal crash.

The statute of limitations for aggravated vehicular assault, which was the charge in eight of the nine cited cases, is six years. The vehicular manslaughter case had a two-year statute of limitations because it is a misdemeanor under Ohio law.

Brant will be scheduled to appear for a court hearing in March on the nine charges, all of which are seconddegree misdemeanors.

Columbus police reported Thursday that Brant was relieved of duty and has been on paid administrative duties status since early October 2022. Her active case duties were reassigned, and an internal investigation took place at the direction of Chief Elaine Bryant.

In a press release, police said an administrative investigation of Brant is now underway through the division’s Internal Affairs Bureau. At the conclusion of that investigation, and based on the filing of criminal charges, police could recommend that Brant be terminated by Safety Director Robert Clark.

Columbus police did not provide additional information on what prompted the initial investigation or a timeline for when the administrative investigation would be completed.

City Attorney Zach Klein said the criminal investigation was warranted because “any breach of the public’s trust should be investigated, and if warranted, prosecuted.”

“Officer Brant will be given the same due process as any other citizen, but make no mistake — no one is above the law and the residents of Columbus deserve public servants that come to work on their behalf every single day,” Klein said. bbruner@dispatch.com @bethany_bruner @Colebehr_report Cbehrens@dispatch.com