PAINESVILLE, Ohio — A Lake County narcotics agent accused of illegally detaining a man outside a Hinckley bar resigned rather than face discipline for the incident.
Agent Dan Lajack submitted the resignation dated Dec. 2, days after the Lake County Narcotics Agency started disciplinary proceedings against him.
Lajack was placed on restricted duty, and later administrative leave after the April incident came to light.
Hinckley and Brunswick police were called to Buzzard’s Roost Tavern for a reported disturbance at the bar.
According to body camera videos, officers arrived and found a man holding another on the ground in a leg lock.
Police separated the men and began questioning those involved.
On the recordings, Lajack identified himself as a DEA task force officer and said his friend, who had the man on the ground, was with ATF.
Lajack then tells officers he believes the man being held is in the country illegally and wants to make sure the man isn’t on some “watchlist.”
But when police questioned the man, he said he was a truck driver who is an American citizen.
The man told police he was originally from the East African country of Eritrea but now lives in Fort Worth, Texas.
Officers ran the man’s driver’s license, and it came back valid.
The truck driver told police he was inside the bar when the agents began questioning him, then grabbed him, took his phone and wallet and forced him outside.
Witnesses inside the bar backed the man’s story.
He told police he didn’t want to press charges.
But on the body camera recordings, police were clearly concerned about what happened – and at one point made a late-night phone call to Medina County’s prosecutor to explain what happened.
The two agents and a friend were allowed to leave, but the investigation was turned over the FBI.
Both Lajack and the ATF officer, Donald Kopchak, were removed from their task force positions.
Kopchak, a Cleveland police officer, has been on restricted duty since the incident.
A spokesperson for the US Attorney’s Office in Detroit, which is handling the case, has not returned a phone call seeking an update on the status of the case.
