Photo: Getty Images
An Ohio officer has been placed on leave after video showed him unleashing a police dog on an unarmed Black man who had surrendered during an arrest, the New York Times reports.
According to the Ohio State Highway Patrol, Jadarrius Rose, 23, was driving a semitrailer with a missing mud flap earlier this month when he failed to pull over for inspection on U.S. 35 in Jackson County. A police chase ensued before Rose's truck stopped.
Video shows the moments after Rose got out of the vehicle. As officers approach him, Rose appears to have his hands up in surrender.
“Don’t release the dog. Do not release the dog with his hands up," one trooper says, per the video.
Despite the directive, a Circleville Police Department officer identified as Ryan Speakman released a police K-9 who attacked Rose as he was on his knees with his hands in the air.
Troopers quickly intervened with one yelling, “Get the dog off of him! Get the dog off of him!” In the video, Rose can be heard pleading for help as blood came down his arm.
He was treated at a local hospital and charged with failure to comply.
President of NAACP Columbus, Ohio Nana Watson said Rose violated the law when he failed to stop, but there was no reason for the officer to release his dog.
“It was a horrific incident,” Watson said on Tuesday (July 25). “It took me back to the ’60s when Bull Connor released the dogs and the hoses on Black people during the Civil Rights movement.”
In a statement, Circleville Police Chief G. Shawn Baer said Speakman was placed on administrative leave amid an investigation into the incident.
“We continue to follow our policies and procedures as Circleville’s Use of Force Review Board conducts its investigation of the incident,” Baer said. “The decision to place Officer Speakman on leave is part of that process. We take all such incidents and the actions of our officers very seriously.”
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