A viral video, corroborated by newly released bodycam footage shows an Ohio police officer running up to a Black man as he knelt on the ground with his hands in the air and kicking him while he was complying.
Jaemiier McElroy ended up hospitalized with a concussion, according to his attorney. He was arrested on charges of obstructing official business and resisting arrest – but the video shows he was neither resisting nor obstructing.
But Canton Police Chief John Gabbard defended the officer, whose name is Brandon Momirov, by saying, “Our officers frequently face stressful, dangerous situations and confrontations with armed suspects.”
“Their dedication to the community has resulted in exceptional reductions in violence, especially gun violence, over the past two years,” Gabbard said in a statement to the media.
But McElroy’s attorney, Bobby DiCello, said the chief’s statement was “laughable” considering the attorney is representing six separate cases of police abuse committed by Canton police over the past two years, including three that resulted in fatalities and three resulting in serious injuries, including the most recent incident with McElroy.
“There’s a group of people in Canton that are law enforcement officers who are treating ordinary civilians like enemy combatants,” attorney Bobby DiCello told NBC News.
“If this was in another context, you’d say that’s a crime spree.”
The Jaemiier McElroy Video
The incident took place last Saturday night after someone called 911 at about 8:30 p.m. to complain about a group of 10 to 15 people arguing outside within an apartment complex.
The dispatcher asked the caller if they had seen any weapons or if the individuals were getting violent, but the caller said no to both questions, according to Fox 8.
Canton police said that when they pulled up to the scene, several people began running away, including one suspect who “carried a gun that was plainly visible to the pursuing officer,” according to the Canton Repository.
“The pursuit was discontinued without an apprehension,” the Canton Repository stated without offering further explanation.
A witness recorded the video, which lasted only 24 seconds but showed several cops stepping out of their patrol cars with guns drawn, ordering three Black men on their knees.
“Get on the ground!”
“On your knees!”
“Right now!” the officers demand. The men immediately complied with their orders.
Then, seconds later, Momirov comes running up from behind the officers and kicks McElroy in the head.
Officials later released body camera footage from Momirov and another officer that shows what prompted the other cops to arrive on the scene.
After a brief chase after the suspect accused of carrying a gun, the officer sees McElroy and four others in a parking lot and demands that they stop walking. He then calls for backup.
“I got five at gunpoint in this parking lot not really complying. I could use more units,” he says, although the cellphone video shows that McElroy and the others immediately followed his orders.
Momirov runs right for McElroy without provocation.
“This is disgusting. This is disgusting,” said DiCello. “What I just saw was renegade, rogue, gang-style policing.”
One of the men on the ground, believed to be McElroy’s brother can be heard asking, “Why you hit my brother like that, bro?,”
“Because he’s not complying,” Momirov responds.
Unsatisfied with that answer. Momirov is once again asked why he kicked McElroy.
“How many times did I tell you to get on the ground?,” Momirov replies.
“You guys don’t want to listen, that’s fine,” another officer tells the suspects. “Then don’t be surprised when we put our hands on you.”
Previous Incidents
Canton police came under public scrutiny after shooting and killing a Black man named James Williams on New Year’s Eve in 2022, who had been shooting celebratory gunfire into the air.
However, a grand jury declined to indict Canton police officer Robert Huber in September 2022.
Canton police then shot and killed a 24-year-old man named Zachary J. Fornash in December 2023, who was carrying a pellet gun.
Then, earlier this year in April, Frank Tyson, 53, died in police custody after he repeatedly told officers, “I can’t breathe.” Tyson’s death was ruled a homicide by the coroner’s office.
The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigations, which handles investigations for the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, is investigating the two latter fatalities, according to Cleveland Scene.
Then, in May of this year, a Canton police officer unleashed a K-9 German shepherd on a man named Kievan Conver, who was already lying face down on the ground, being held down by cops. Conver had been pulled over for failing to signal before pulling over to a curb, but then police said he had a gun in the car.
However, that cop, Nicholas Castro, was fired in June over the incident.
DiCello told NBC News that Canton police also “arrested and punched a man and called him horrific names when he tried to stop the dog attack.”
Chief Gabbard indicated in his statement that Momirov would be disciplined if an investigation determined he violated policy or the law, which is how it appears in the video.
“Officers using force outside the parameters of our training, policy and principles will be held accountable,” he said.
However, DiCello, who represents the five above cases, is skeptical, especially after the last video.
“It should not be lost on anyone that after officers attacked him and hospitalized him, they issued charges which find no support in the video,” he said in a statement.
“One of those charges, resisting arrest, is not justified by the video: Jaemiir is on his knees with his hands in the air when he is kicked in the head by an officer who charges at him.”
