Another knee-on-neck incident added to investigation of Elyria police officer (VIDEO)

ELYRIA — Video captured by a homeowner shows an Elyria police officer who is on paid leave after kneeling on the upper back and neck of a teenager using a similar tactic on another person earlier the same day. Elyria police officer John Witthuhn was put on paid administrative leave Monday, subject to an internal investigation after a video surfaced online of him dropping to a knee on the upper back of a teenager who was already being placed into custody by three other officers after a Juneteenth event in Ely Square on Saturday, June 20. Now, a home security video provided to with The Chronicle-Telegram by a resident shows Witthuhn using a similar tactic in a different arrest earlier the same day; placing his knee on the back of the neck and head area of a man, Daryl Jackson, who is on the ground and not moving after he was struck with a Taser by other officers. Elyria Police Chief James Welsh confirmed that the video is genuine and that the officer seen kneeling on the man was Witthuhn. Welsh said that after supervisors reviewed footage of the arrest, as the department does with all use of force cases, the incident was folded into the department's internal investigation into Witthuhn's conduct that was launched after the Juneteenth event arrest of a 15-year-old girl. "We received a call that Mr. Jackson was potentially in possession of a firearm and was reported to be both homicidal and suicidal," Welsh said. "When officers confronted him at this residence, he was noncompliant and the officers used force during the encounter to subdue and arrest Mr. Jackson. We review every use of force, regardless of whether there is a complaint filed, to ensure our officers acted within department standards and the law. Consistent with our standard procedures, this incident has been assigned for an internal review, along with the Ely Square incident." The video Footage of Jackson's arrest was provided to The Chronicle by Douglas Avenue resident Rebecca Flowers. Flowers' video was captured by a Ring camera installed on her garage. Jackson and Flowers are in a relationship and live together. The video shows a red sedan sitting in a driveway with Jackson standing in front of it speaking with Elyria police officers. Jackson, who is Black, has his shirt pulled up and yells something at officers before turning around and walking toward the red car. Officers give chase, with one shooting him with less-lethal rounds known as pepper balls and the other hitting him with a Taser shock device. Jackson falls forward onto the ground, and as officers run toward him one yells "Hands behind your back now." Jackson places his hands behind his back and does not appear to otherwise move, though only his head and shoulders are visible past the car. One officer runs behind Jackson and starts to place him in handcuffs while another officer, since identified as Witthuhn, drops from standing to a kneeling position, placing one knee on Jackson's upper back or neck. After about 13 seconds, Jackson begins coughing and then yells "I can't breathe." One of the officers replies, "You're yelling." Witthuhn checks that Jackson has been placed in handcuffs and then removes his knee and stands after about 20 seconds. The Chronicle has requested body-worn camera footage from the officers involved, but Welsh confirmed that he had seen Flowers' video. He said it was consistent with what the body-worn camera footage he had reviewed showed and that Witthuhn was the officer who placed a knee on Jackson. The arrest of Jackson occurred about 1 p.m. on June 20, roughly four hours before the arrest in Ely Square that led to Witthuhn's suspension. Jackson was arrested and charged with intimidation/threat of an attorney, victim or witness, making terroristic threats and obstructing official business, all felonies. He was also charged with misdemeanor inducing panic. Flowers has filed a formal complaint with the department and was given copies of the police reports and narratives, which she provided to The Chronicle. Police reports According to the narratives provided by officers, the incident with Jackson began when he called the Riveon Mental Health Services crisis line. Officers said they received information just before 11 a.m. that Jackson had made a series of threats during this phone call. "During the conversation, Jackson repeatedly made threats to blow up a gas station, harm or kill the mother of his child and his child and intimidate law enforcement regarding his arrest," the report said. "Riveon Mental Health Services also advised that Jackson may have a firearm inside his vehicle." Officers eventually identified the red Kia sedan that Jackson was driving, and attempted to make a traffic stop when officer Chris Constantino spotted Jackson pulling into the driveway of a home on Douglas Avenue. In his report, Constantino said that after a brief standoff Jackson got out of the car and did talk with officers, but he said that Jackson was aggressive and repeatedly ignored commands from officers. When Jackson turned and walked back toward his vehicle, Constantino wrote that officers decided to move in. "Based on information received that Jackson may have been armed and his actions during the incident, officers feared he was attempting to access a weapon inside the vehicle or become a barricaded suspect," the report said. Officers hit Jackson with the pepper balls and Taser, at which point he fell to the ground and was taken into custody. In his own narrative on the incident, Witthuhn wrote that after Jackson was on the ground, he was the one to pin the man's head down. "Ptl. Witthuhn controlled Jackson's head by pinning it to the ground/grass," Witthuhn wrote in his report. Jackson was taken to the Lorain County Jail and according to jail records he is still there on $200,000 bond. Jackson has a criminal history, according to Lorain County Common Pleas Court records. He was most recently charged with felony domestic violence in 2024, but pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of misdemeanor domestic violence. Welsh said that the incident was automatically reviewed due to the use of force. He said that while he believed officers were justified in using force to arrest Jackson based on the situation, the specific actions of Witthuhn were of concern, as they were in the later arrest Saturday. "I am not OK with people breaking the law and then refusing to comply with police officers," Welsh said. "When people refuse lawful orders and resist arrest, situations can escalate quickly. That is when officers, innocent bystanders and even suspects themselves can be injured. I do not condone anyone refusing to comply with lawful orders from police officers. "At the same time, accountability is the No. 1 priority in this department. We will make sure our officers are doing what they are supposed to do, and if they are not, I will hold them accountable." In the incident in Ely Square later on Saturday, officers had been interviewing a 14-year-old boy when a girl, his 15-year-old sister, began screaming at officers and approaching them. Officers decided to arrest both teenagers for disorderly conduct, and the 15-year-old resisted when police tried to arrest her. The teenager was eventually subdued by three officers who had gained control of her on the ground and were placing handcuffs on her when, according to body-worn camera footage, Witthuhn enters the fray and drops his knee onto the girl's upper back and neck area. Bystanders reacted by moving closer to the officers and shouting, with two people who allegedly intervened also being arrested and charged. Flowers said that she was upset with how police responded to Jackson making a call for help due to a mental health crisis, but she said that her largest concern was what appeared to be another example in a pattern of behavior from Witthuhn. "I had not heard about the (arrest of) the girl, but I was concerned with the way that he almost dropped all his weight down on (Jackson's) neck," Flowers said. "He called for help, he was in a mental health crisis situation and he called the number they tell people to call. He needed help, and this is how the police reacted. The fact that his hands were behind his back before that knee got dropped on him, I think it is a that officer problem. … Obviously it is a Witthuhn problem." Contact Owen MacMillan at (440) 329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet.com.