CLEVELAND — A former East Cleveland police officer who cut a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to assaulting a man after a 2020 traffic stop avoided jail at his sentencing Monday.
Instead, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Andrew Santoli ordered 39-year-old Nicholas Foti to spend a year-and-a-half on probation and ordered the former police officer to serve 100 hours of community service in the city he once patrolled.
Foti pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault last week after investigators accused him of using a Taser on a man twice, stomping the man's head and then using a Taser on him again after an April 2020 traffic stop.
In court Monday, Foti looked away as prosecutors played body camera video of the man's arrest.
Prosecutors said Foti and four other officers attempted to stop the man after reports he drove on a sidewalk.
They said the man did not initially pull over because he feared the police and wanted to reach a more public area.
Eventually, officers disabled the man's car, broke out the window, pulled him from behind the wheel and placed him face-down on the pavement.
That's when investigators said Foti went too far.
"Although there are those that do break the law, those officers are meant to uphold it as well," said Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Gregory Mussman.
But Foti's attorney insisted his client did not act maliciously, trying to hurt the man. Instead, he told the judge, Foti was trying to get the driver under control and said his client only stepped on the man's head because he was pushed by another officer.
Attorney Will Norman referenced the problems inside the police department that led to the indictments of 18 past and current officers since August 2022.
"In terms of, 'Hey, East Cleveland’s got problems,' it does have problems, judge," said Norman. "And we can’t say lay that at the feet of Mr. Foti. Mr Foti was not the cause of those problems. He won’t be the end of those problems. He is, perhaps, in this incidence, a product of those problems."
Foti told the judge he assumed the worst of the driver when he fled police but acknowledged in the months since the indictment, he learned the man's prior mental health issues could have complicated his interactions with officers.
"I am saddened standing in front of you today," said Foti, reading from a prepared statement. "I only wish you could have had the chance to see me at my best as opposed to my worst here today."
The driver did not want his name used or face shown, but told the judge he wanted to see Foti go to jail.
"I know I played a part in that too, and I was wrong," said the man, who is currently serving time in prison on other cases. "But at the same time, he went overboard. He had me. There wasn’t no need for that."
Along with probation and community service, Foti also surrendered his police officer certification, meaning he cannot wear a badge again.
