Jurors in corrections officer Brian Tellier's felony assault trial watch incident video

ELYRIA -- Jurors in Lorain County Common Pleas Judge Chris Cook's courtroom watched video Tuesday that prosecutors allege shows a Lorain County corrections officer throwing an intoxicated inmate into a wall more than 2 1/2 years ago. That inmate, Jeffrey Fry, was seriously injured and will require medical care for life according to his attorneys and the Lorain County Prosecutor's Office. Both called Corrections Officer Brian Tellier's actions on May 12, 2023, unreasonable and even criminal. Tellier, 36, of Elyria, has pleaded not guilty to felonious assault, tampering with records and tampering with evidence, all felonies, and dereliction of duty, a misdemeanor, in the alleged assault on Fry. In his opening statement, attorney George Gerken told the jury of 10 women and four men that the video "doesn't look good" for his client. Tellier "is not guilty of what the state has accused him of doing" because he didn't intend to hurt Fry or "knowingly" hurt him, Gerken said. Gerken said Tellier will testify in his own defense, and tell the jury he thought Fry was attempting to escape when he used appropriate, reasonable and justified force to stop him. Fry slipped on an uneven floor surface that county officials knew existed as he tried to escape Tellier's grasp, Gerken said. Elyria police Officer Ali Sabeiha had just dropped Fry off at the Lorain County Jail on Murray Ridge Road that evening on a warrant for a probation violation. Fry was handcuffed behind his back with Tellier walking him to the body scanner room. Depending on whose account is to be believed, Tellier either threw Fry into the wall or Fry tripped and fell while trying to escape, hitting his head. Tellier and other corrections officers then half-carried, half-dragged Fry to a nearby vestibule where they waited for nurses and LifeCare paramedics to respond. Fry appeared injured and his attorneys have alleged Tellier did further damage manhandling him onto a gurney. Sabeiha, who was 5 to 6 feet behind Tellier and Fry but didn't react when Fry allegedly tried to escape, wrote in his initial report that Fry appeared to have tripped. "I did not think he used excessive force at the time," Sabeiha testified Tuesday. But he admitted he also texted fellow Elyria officers that Tellier "slammed" Fry and might have given him a concussion. Sabeiha testified that to this day, he's not exactly sure what happened. "I don't have a clear opinion on this at all," he testified. Corrections Sgt. Jennifer Jones, who was the sheriff's office supervisor in the booking area that day, testified she signed off on Tellier's use of force as "reasonable." But that was before she looked at the video, which showed something different than Tellier's written account that he "guided" Fry to the ground. An investigation during Sheriff Phil Stammitti's tenure found that Tellier broke policy by falsifying his incident report. Experienced corrections supervisors who reviewed Tellier's use of force wrote that it was "inappropriate and excessive." Stammitti kept Tellier on the job, but out of contact with inmates. When Sheriff Jack Hall succeeded Stammitti in January, he put Tellier on paid administrative leave, had the incident re-investigated and brought the investigation to a grand jury, which handed up charges in July. Fry sued Stammitti, Tellier, Lorain County, the city of Elyria, LifeCare, police and corrections officers, LifeCare paramedics and jail nurses in U.S. District Court in Cleveland in 2024. Now 60, Fry is seeking $40 million in damages, with the lawsuit still pending. His attorneys allege he suffered spinal injuries that will require lifelong care. Tellier also pleaded not guilty to two charges of endangering children, one felony and one misdemeanor, after a 6-year-old boy in his care ingested a THC gummy in February and had to be hospitalized. A pretrial hearing in that case is set in Cook's court on Dec. 15. Tellier is the son-in-law of Maj. James Gordon, who heads up the Civil/Corrections/Courts Division at the sheriff's office. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.