An Ohio man unafraid to exercise his rights against police trying to enter his home without a warrant ended up tasered, abused, and arrested on five fabricated felonies, spending nine days in jail – after the cops allowed his ex-girlfriend to kick his door in to retrieve her personal items.
Last week, it was announced that Raul Ortiz and his mother, Debra Fusik, received a $450,000 settlement from the Elyria Police Department over the unlawful entry into their home.
But the three cops who unlawfully entered the home, which included the president of the local police union, along with a rookie cop she was training, remain employed despite the veteran cop violating 10 departmental policies that day.
Elyria Officer Paige Mitchell, who was president of the Elyria Police Patrolmen’s Association, was initially informed by the police chief she would be fired for her role in the unlawful raid for violating so many policies.
But the city’s safety service director who oversees the police department allowed her to remain employed, giving her a 30-day unpaid suspension instead.
She was also placed on the Brady List for her lies by James Barge, who was chief of staff for the Lorain County Prosecutor’s Office, which meant she is too dishonest to take a witness stand.
But Burge ended up losing the election after he was charged with felonies that were then dismissed. The newly elected chief of staff told local media his office maintains no such list, allowing Mitchell to continue testifying against citizens she arrests despite her dishonesty.
The second veteran cop who took part in the raid, Colty Hersh, was initially told by Elyria Police Chief William Pelko that he would receive a 30-day unpaid suspension.
But Elyria Safety Service Director Chris Pyanowski reduced Hersh’s suspension to a three-day unpaid suspension.
The rookie cop being trained, Chris Lewis, received no disciplinary action since he was just following orders from Mitchell.
However, Chief Pelko’s disciplinary decisions were announced only after the local news station WOIO broke the story almost a year after the incident. Before that, the chief had already cleared the officers of wrongdoing, WOIO reported a few months later.
In fact, Pelko ended up slapped with a two-day unpaid suspension by Pyanowski for failing to discipline the officers until 15 months later, according to The Chronicle-Telegram, the local newspaper in Elyria, a city of about 52,000 residents in the Cleveland metropolitan area. The chief has since retired.
All three cops who participated in the unlawful raid were listed in the lawsuit that accused them of false imprisonment, assault and battery, excessive force, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
“Defendants Mitchell, Lewis, and Hersh, intentionally and unreasonably arrested Plaintiffs for various offenses for which there was no factual basis in law and fact as to Plaintiffs Ortiz and Fusik,” states the lawsuit filed by Ohio attorney Brett. F. Murner.
“Plaintiff Ortiz was behaving reasonably in his own home when Defendants Mitchell, Lewis, and Hersh illegally entered into his residence.Defendants Mitchell, Lewis and Hersh then used excessive force as to Plaintiff Ortiz.”
Watch the video below that shows Mitchell turning off the audio recorder on her body camera before describing the situation to her sergeant, who had just arrived on the scene.
The Unlawful Entry
The incident took place on May 11, 2023, after Ortiz’s ex-girlfriend, Brittany Warner, who had moved out of his house, told Elyria police officers she needed to retrieve personal items from inside the home.
At first, the Elyria police officers knocked on Ortiz’s door, but he told them they were not welcome in his home.
Mitchell, who was hired in 2015 and was the supervising officer that day, then told Warner she had every right to kick the door in to retrieve her items — essentially encouraging her to commit the felony act of breaking and entering into a residential home.
“Do you have a key to the house?” Mitchell is heard asking Warner, according to her body camera footage.
“He took my key,” replied Warner.
“You’ve lived here, so if you want to kick the door in and go in and get your stuff, you’re more than welcome to,” Mitchell told Warner.
“He’s got a deadbolt lock,” Warner replied.
“Any door can be kicked in, depending on how hard you work on it,” Mitchell responded.
Protected by three armed cops, Warner proceeded to kick the front door in and entered the home, followed by the three cops who encountered Ortiz on the stairs after he had just gotten out of the shower.
Ortiz demanded to know why they had entered his home, and they responded by tasering him, the lawsuit states.
“I got a heart monitor,” said Ortiz, who had a pacemaker implanted in his chest a few months earlier, hoping they would have mercy on him.
But they continued tasering him, arresting him on five felony charges, including aggravated robbery, because he had grabbed the taser from one of the officers and dropped it. At the same time, he was being tortured. As well as three counts of assault on a police officer and obstruction, the latter of which is a felony under Ohio law if it “creates a risk of physical harm to any person.”
He was also charged with two misdemeanors: resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. His mother was also arrested on a felony charge of obstruction after she pleaded with them to stop tasering her son because of his heart condition.
Ortiz was transported to the hospital before he was transported to jail, where he remained for nine days. All charges against Ortiz and Fusik were eventually dismissed. He received $445,000 of the settlement, while his mother received $5,000.
Mitchell referred to herself in the third person when describing the incident in her police report, painting themselves as the victims even though the video shows they were the aggressors. Below is an excerpt from the arrest reports obtained by Atlanta Black Star, which include narratives from all three officers:
Officer P. Mitchell advised Warner due to having established residency in the residence, she could force entry into the residence if she chose to. Warner then walked up to the residence door and kicked it twice before it opened. She then pushed open the door and entered the residence. As she was walking up the stairs Officers Hersh and Lewis followed behind her and attempted to get her to stop going upstairs as Raul Ortiz was observed coming down the stairs yelling about Officers having kicked in his door. As Officer P. Mitchell was standing at the bottom of the stairs waiting for either Warner or Ortiz to come down off the staircase, Officer P. Mitchell heard glass shatter and observed Officers Hersh and Lewis wrestling with Ortiz on the landing at the stop of the first set of stairs.
At that time, Officer P. Mitchell drive stunned Ortiz in the stomach area with the taser in an attempt to gain compliance. It should be noted as this was happening, Ortiz began yelling at Officer P. Mitchell he has a heart monitor. He then doubled over and began pulling away from Officers again. Officer P. Mitchell then lost contact with Ortiz with the taser. As Officer P. Mitchell began to pull the taser back towards her body and away from Ortiz. Ortiz then placed his hands on Officer P. Mitchell’s and began pushing them downward towards his waist. As he was doing this, Ortiz was able to get his finger into the trigger guard of the taser and place it on top of Officer P. Mitchell’s finger. He then began attempting to turn the taser towards Officer P. Mitchell while also attempting to pull the trigger.
Officer P. Mitchell was able to disarm the taser just moments prior to Ortiz pushing Officer P. Mitchell’s hand into the wall causing her to lose her grip on the taser. When that happened, Ortiz removed the taser from Officer P. Mitchell’s hand and continued to attempt to turn it around on Officer P. Mitchell. While this was happening, Officers Hersh and Lewis continued to attempt to get Ortiz’s hands behind his back but he continued to wrestle and fight with Officers to prevent being arrested. While this was all happening, Officer P. Mitchell continued to struggle with Ortiz over the taser in an attempt to keep it away from Officers. It should be noted, Officer P. Mitchell was in fear Ortiz would use the taser on Officer P. Mitchell, or another Officer, causing them to fall down the stairs and become injured. This would likely incapacitate Officer P. Mitchell leaving Ortiz the opportunity to take her firearm.
Although Cillo, the newly elected chief of staff for the Lorain County Prosecutor’s Office, claimed no such Brady List exists in his office that would have prevented Mitchell from testifying against citizens she arrests, he has assured local media he will create one. But he did not mention if Mitchell would be placed on that list.
