He was booked into the Montgomery County Jail, but was not listed as an inmate on Monday. According to court records he posted a $25,000 bond. He has been charged with domestic violence in Vandalia Municipal Court and is scheduled to be arraigned on Thursday.
Butler Township Administrator Kimberly Lapensee said the township is aware of the arrest and has contacted their lawyer, but no disciplinary action had been taken as of Monday.
Nihizer was one of 10 Butler Township firefighters accused of viewing or downloading inappropriate material while on duty in 2008. He and fellow International Association of Firefighters Local 4491 leader Angela Rice were fired in the wake of those allegations, but later reinstated by the State Employment Relations Board and awarded back pay.
They accepted their jobs back in March of 2010.
According to the Vandalia police report, both Nihizer and his wife were drinking at Boston’s Bistro and Pub in Dayton on Saturday night when an argument began. The fight turned violent once the couple returned home. Their daughter told police she witnessed her father punch her mother “hard enough to drop her to the floor.”
Nihizer told police that his wife attacked him and that he was defending himself. She had facial injuries and he had a scratch on his face. Officer Damien Clemmons wrote in his report that it was determined that “Richard was the primary aggressor in this incident.”