CIRCLEVILLE, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio officer was put on leave while he’s investigated for releasing his police dog on a surrendering truck driver even after state troopers told the officer to hold the dog back.
Officer Ryan Speakman was placed on paid administrative leave, Circleville Police Chief G. Shawn Baer in a statement Tuesday. The move is standard procedure in cases where use of force is investigated, Baer said, adding that there would be no further comments until the town’s civilian Use of Force Review Board completes its investigation.
Republican Gov. Mike DeWine said the recent events in Circleville “should be a lesson, a wake-up call to everyone, that police training in the state of Ohio is not equal.”
The governor told reporters Tuesday that he will propose the state build a “scenario-based training facility” as part of the upcoming capital budget. He also will ask state lawmakers to “explore” permanent funding for the facility so departments of all sizes could use it at no cost, noting smaller police departments may not have the resources needed to cover this kind of training.
Details on what features the training facility might have are still under discussion, said Andy Wilson, the state’s public safety director.
Speakman, who joined the Circleville department in February 2020, deployed his police dog following a lengthy pursuit on July 4 that involved troopers with the Ohio State Highway Patrol and ended near the town. Both the pursuit and the ensuing attack were captured on a police body camera.
The chase began when troopers tried to stop a commercial semitruck that was missing a mudflap and failed to halt for an inspection, according to a Ohio State Highway Patrol incident report. The nearby Circleville Police Department was called to assist, including a K9 police dog, authorities said.
The 23-year-old truck driver, Jadarrius Rose of Memphis, Tennessee, initially refused to get out of the truck and later defied instructions to get on the ground, according to the Highway Patrol incident report and the body cam video. Rose eventually got on his knees and raised his hands in the air.
The body camera video shows Speakman holding back the K9, and a trooper can be heard off-camera repeatedly yelling, “Do not release the dog with his hands up!” However, Speakman deploys the dog and it can be seen in the video attacking Rose.
The trooper shouts “Get the dog off of him!” Rose appears to be in pain and yells “Get it off! Please! Please!” before the attack ends. Rose was treated at a hospital for dog bites.
Rose was charged with failure to comply, and has not responded to an email sent Monday seeking comment. Messages were also left with attorney Benjamin Partee, who was identified in media reports as Rose’s lawyer.
It’s not clear why he refused to stop for police. Rose is Black, and Speakman is white. Rose told The Columbus Dispatch that he couldn’t talk about why he didn’t stop. But when asked about the video, told the newspaper: “I’m just glad that it was recorded. What you saw is what, pretty much, happened.”
Audio recordings of 911 calls show Rose told emergency dispatchers that the officers pursuing him were “trying to kill” him and he didn’t feel safe pulling over. He also said he was confused about why the officers were trying to stop him and why they had their guns drawn after he briefly stopped the truck before driving away.
The 911 dispatcher repeatedly told Rose he should stop and comply with police, and said the officers weren’t trying to harm him.
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