COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost called the video of a Circleville police officer deploying a K-9 on a surrendering truck driver “horrifying.”
In an interview on Thursday, Yost remarked on the Ohio State Highway Patrol dash and body camera video of an incident on July 4 where an officer deployed a K-9 on a truck driver following a pursuit. The Circleville Police Department announced Wednesday that the officer, Ryan Speakman, was fired, stating that he “did not meet the standards and expectations we hold for our police officers.”
“This was not a training issue. The officer simply didn’t follow his training,” Yost said. “He exhibited poor judgment and bad decision-making.”
Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers attempted to pull over a semitruck in Jackson County on U.S. 35 to inspect the vehicle for a missing mud flap. However, according to an incident report, the driver, 23-year-old Jadarrius Rose, did not stop the semi, which led to a 20-minute pursuit.
Rose stopped after driving over a spike strip. As troopers tried to take him into custody, there was confusion over whether a K-9 should be released. One trooper repeatedly told a Circleville officer to not release the K-9 while Rose had his hands up. Despite the verbal commands from the trooper, the dog was released while Rose was kneeling.
Yost said the Ohio State Highway Patrol had jurisdiction over the scene.
“They had stopped the defendant. The defendant was not resisting at that point… for another officer from another agency to come up and act independently is not the way we do things and I’m just scratching my head about what he was thinking.”
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump will be representing Rose, according to his office.
Crump released a statement on Twitter calling the incident unacceptable.
"Body cam video clearly shows Speakman lead the canine to attack unarmed Jadarrius who, at that point, was fully complying," Crump said. "The reality we live in is that Black people have an ingrained mistrust for law enforcement because of situations like this. A man was mauled by a police canine over a missing mudflap."
The Ohio Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, a police union that Speakman belongs to, said Wednesday it had filed a grievance on his behalf, saying he was fired without just cause.
“That officer did not act, at least according to the video record, the way he was trained or according to protocol,” Yost said. “First of all, I don’t think the dog should have even been out of the car at that point. If the dog was out of the car, it should have been on a lead. And, of course, the dog should not have been set loose.”
Yost said the video supported the department’s decision to fire Speakman. He added, “I’ll be candid with you, and this is just one person’s opinion, I’m not sure after an event like this that they [Circleville] ought to continue to have a K-9 unit. There ought to be a gap and then retraining and recertification.”
Gov. Mike DeWine said earlier this week that Ohio is in need of better police training. He said he plans to present recommendations to the General Assembly to make police training uniform across the state.
"This incident in Circleville should be a lesson - a wake-up call to everyone that police training in the state of Ohio is not equal. It needs to be equal. No matter where you reside, you have a right to have your police officers… to have the best training possible. We have a ways to go in Ohio.”
According to Yost, any officer in the K-9 unit has to be trained and certified with their K-9 partner. The K-9 officer is required to demonstrate that they can bring their dog from an attack to standing down with nothing but a verbal command.
“Aside from the fact that the dog shouldn’t have even been out of the car, the fact that after the attack happened, the officer was apparently unable, unwilling – not really sure – but did not command that dog to stop the attack. That’s not the way this is supposed to work,” Yost said.