Ohio officer placed on leave after police dog attacks surrendering truck driver

CIRCLEVILLE, Ohio — An Ohio K-9 officer was been placed on administrative leave for an incident earlier this month when a police dog attacked an unarmed commercial truck driver after the man had surrendered after a chase.

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Circleville police Officer Ryan Speakman was placed on leave late last week as the city’s five-member Use of Force Review Board investigates the circumstances of the incident that occurred on July 4 on a highway in southern Ohio, Circleville Mayor Donald McIlroy told WSYX-TV.

A Circleville police statement did not say whether Speakman will face any disciplinary action and did not identify him, according to The Associated Press. However, an incident report by the Ohio State Highway Patrol named the K-9 officer as Speakman.

The three-county chase began as officers attempted to pull over Jadarrius Rose, 23, of Memphis, Tennessee. Rose was driving a commercial truck that was “missing a left rear mud flap” and failed to stop for an inspection, CNN reported.

Video obtained by the cable news outlet and The Washington Post shows Speakman, the dog’s handling officer, being warned several times by sergeants at the scene to keep the dog in check if the man surrendered peacefully with his hands in the air, the newspaper reported.

Rose complied with the command, according to the Post.

“Don’t release the dog. Do not release the dog with his hands up,” a state trooper warns the K-9 handler from a distance several times, WOIO-TV reported, citing the body camera video footage. It was unclear whether the trooper could be heard by other law enforcement officers, CNN reported.

Despite the trooper’s warning, Speakman released the dog -- a 4-year-old Belgian Malinois-Shepherd named Serg, according to the Scioto Valley Guardian, which first reported the incident.

According to the video, the dog ran toward officers and then turned to Rose and attacked him, pulling him to the ground after biting his arm, the Post reported.

“Get the dog off of him! Get the dog!” troopers yelled, according to body camera video.

The dog maintained his grip on Rose for more than 30 seconds, the video showed.

“As troopers were attempting to gain compliance by providing verbal commands to the suspect, the Circleville Police Department deployed their canine, which resulted in the suspect being bitten by the canine,” Ohio State Highway Patrol Sgt. Ryan E. Purpura told WOIO.

McIlroy said Serg has been kenneled, WSYX reported.

“The dog has been kenneled and will probably go to the training center in Pennsylvania,” McIlroy told the television station. “That’s all I know.”

Warning: Video below contains graphic images and language.

Rose was charged with failure to comply. He did not respond to an emailed request for comment from The Associated Press. Messages were also left with attorney Benjamin Partee, who was identified in media reports as Rose’s lawyer, according to the news organization.

Troopers immediately provided first aid and contacted EMS to respond. As Rose was being treated for his injuries, a trooper said to him, “Nobody is trying to hurt you,” according to the Circleville Herald.

“You just let a dog bite me,” Rose can be heard on the video.

After the incident, troopers talked about the attack with other law enforcement officers when a trooper asked, “Was I not loud enough?” the Herald reported.

“You said it three-four, multiple times,” a fellow trooper responded.

Earlier, in a 911 call released by Ross County authorities, Rose told a dispatcher that he was reluctant to pull over.

“Right now, I have police officers following me for a long time and I am trying to figure out why they have their guns pulled out,” Rose said in the call, according to CNN and ABC News. “I am just a truck driver. I was about to comply with them, but they all had their guns drawn out. There are like 20 police cars behind me. And I don’t feel safe.”

“You need to pull over,” the dispatcher said. “You’re going to get yourself in more trouble than you’re already in.”

“I don’t know why they’re trying to kill me,” Rose said.

“They’re not trying to kill you,” the dispatcher said.

“Yes they are,” Rose said. “I do not feel safe with stopping.”

Speakman, 29, was sworn in as a Circleville Police Department officer in February 2020, ABC News reported, citing an article in Herald.

McIlroy said he expects the review board to complete its work by the end of the week or by Monday, according to the news outlet.

“This is the first time anything like this has happened. So, it’s new to us and this is why we have this review board,” McIlroy told ABC News. “And once that review board is finished, we’ll make some determinations where we’ll go forward.”

White House press secretary Karine Jane-Pierre spoke about the incident on Monday.

“I saw the stories,” she said, according to WSYX. “I believe there is an investigation. They’re looking into it. It sounds horrific. But I don’t want to go beyond that, but it does sound horrific as to what happened.”