Jurors begin deliberations after Brian Tellier testifies in 2023 jail assault case

ELYRIA — A Lorain County Common Pleas jury will resume deliberating today over the fate of suspended Lorain County corrections officer Brian Tellier, accused of seriously injuring an inmate in his custody more than two years ago then lying about it in an official report. After hearing two days of testimony and legal arguments in Judge Chris Cook's courtroom, jurors deliberated about 90 minutes Thursday without reaching a verdict on one count of felonious assault and two counts of tampering with records, all felonies, against Tellier, 36, of Elyria. Deliberations will resume at 10 a.m. today. A felony evidence tampering charge and a misdemeanor dereliction of duty charge were earlier dismissed. Tellier was his own star witness Thursday, recounting for jurors what was going on in his head on May 12, 2023, when his world and that of Jeffrey Fry collided during an incident at the Lorain County Jail. Tellier was stoic on the witness stand as he recounted his career in corrections: Six months at the Lorain Correctional Institution, a state prison in Grafton, before joining the Lorain County Sheriff's Office in 2021. Being a corrections officer is "an extremely stressful position," Tellier testified. A corrections officer or "CO" has to use interpersonal skills to de-escalate potentially violent situations and control people using only verbal commands, hands and bodies. "You're gonna be called everything under the sun," Tellier testified. "That's just part of the job." He testified he was trained to handle handcuffed inmates like Fry and knew what to do and what not to do. For months before the incident, the overhead garage doors to the jail sally port, where inmates are delivered to the facility on Murray Ridge Road in Elyria, had been stuck open. Also stuck open was an exit gate leading off jail grounds, jurors heard. Testimony was that policy changed so inmates in the sally port were now handcuffed behind their backs instead of in front of their bodies. "It's a little harder to run with your hands behind your back," Tellier testified. That's how Tellier was escorting Fry, alone and with one hand on Fry's left arm, according to testimony and video evidence. Elyria police Officer Ali Sabeiha, who had brought Fry to the jail on a probation violation, was walking 5 to 6 feet behind the other two men. Fry, a skinny 58-year-old at the time, was agitated, possibly intoxicated and pulled his left arm out of Tellier's grasp, according to Tellier's testimony. Tellier testified he had only a "split second" to react, and tried to stand Fry up against the wall of the sally port to regain control. "The next thing I know, we're falling," Tellier testified, with Fry's momentum taking the CO down with him. Both men ended up on the ground and Fry hit his head in what Tellier called "an unfortunate accident." Tellier immediately called for medical help and backup. He testified that if Fry hadn't jerked away from him, none of it would have happened. He also admitted on the stand that his written report of the incident didn't match what security cameras captured, but that was more due to adrenaline and his perceptions and without the benefit of seeing security video that caught the whole scene. For example: Tellier never put both hands on Fry's shoulders, even though he wrote in his report that he did. "I believed I remembered what had happened," Tellier testified. "I had no reason to believe I was in trouble." Four of Tellier's colleagues testified this week that his use of force on Fry was unreasonable. In his closing statement, Assistant Lorain County Prosecutor Paul Griffin told jurors that Tellier "dragged" Fry and encouraged them to find that Tellier knowingly caused Fry serious physical harm, then lied about it in his reports. Had Sabeiha thought Fry was fleeing, he would have done something, Griffin argued. Video of the incident showed "he did nothing" because Fry wasn't trying to escape, Griffin told the jury. Defense attorney George Gerken said in his closing that the prosecution failed to prove all the elements of felonious assault or records tampering. Tellier "had no inkling of what was going to happen" as he escorted Fry through the booking process, his attorney said. Tellier's defense stipulated in court that Fry suffered serious physical harm and couldn't walk under his own power after the injury, but argued what Tellier did was justified and objectively reasonable for a corrections officer in his position. An expert witness for the defense testified Wednesday that Tellier's use of force was reasonable. Tellier remained on duty under former Sheriff Phil Stammitti for nearly 600 days after the incident with Fry but without contact with inmates. Sheriff Jack Hall suspended Tellier after taking office in January and the criminal charges were filed in July. Fry, 60, did not testify at Tellier's trial. He is suing Lorain County, the city of Elyria and multiple other defendants in federal court, seeking $40 million in damages for his injuries. Tellier still faces criminal child endangering charges, one felony and one misdemeanor, in Cook's court after a 6-year-old boy in his care ingested a THC gummy in February. He has pleaded not guilty in that case and is free on bond. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.