SANDUSKY, Ohio — There are questions over an arrest by Sandusky police last month on Dec. 19, 2024, as police were trying to arrest 28-year-old Scotty Scott on several warrants.
The body camera footage raised concerns in the community after partial clips were posted on social media. Sandusky Police Chief Jared Oliver said the video that was posted online from an officer’s body camera is only one of many videos that exist.
Oliver held a press conference Saturday morning, giving brief descriptions of the incident and the body camera footage.
"It did not accurately reflect some parts of the incident that we really wanted to stress to sort of show in an effort of transparency for what led up to those events," Oliver said.
Oliver stated they had information on where Scott was residing and set up surveillance at the home the morning of the incident. They watched Scott exit the residence and enter the passenger seat of the vehicle.
"There are orders from a judge to arrest these individuals, and that is part of our job as police officers," Oliver said.
Officers pulled the car over, and the video showed an officer attempting to arrest Scott, but once he was out of the car, he pushed the officer out of the way and ran, leading the officer on a foot chase.
The officer was able to locate Scott on an enclosed porch on private property. Scott refused commands to surrender, and officers warned that he would be tased. After Scott was tased, he claimed he could not breathe, and after writhing on the ground, Scott was able to gather himself and push past the officer.
Sandusky police say after Scott attacked the officer, he was able to retrieve the officer's taser from his hands and then drove the taser into the officer’s upper right leg, tasing the officer.
"This is as real as it gets in law enforcement, other than that being a semi-automatic pistol in his hand, those can incapacitate us," Oliver said.
Scott eventually escaped on foot while still in possession of the officer's taser.
Another responding officer apprehended him. Sandusky police say he continued refusing commands to surrender and was ultimately taken into custody.
Scott was charged with felonies, including assault on an officer, robbery and several other offenses. He was incarcerated in the Erie County jail.
Two weeks after Scott was arrested, Brittany Penfield —who told News 5 she is Scott's fiancée— reviewed the police body camera footage from the incident.
“I understand the circumstances of what happened, but I don’t understand why he was beat like that," Penfield said.
In the video, officers were seen hitting Scott multiple times while attempting to arrest him. Former officer and founder of the Center for the Ethnographic Study of Public Safety, Kalfani Ture, says that goes against police training.
“We often are trained to give strikes when we're trying to subdue someone as a way of distracting them, but also as a way of gaining compliance. Our strikes preferably should be in soft tissue areas, not the head or the thoracic area," Ture said.
During the press conference, Oliver said there were several strikes to the back of his head and the neck area. He stated the officer used pain compliance techniques because Scott was not compliant and attempted to take control of an officer's taser while it was on his lower back.
"I know people think those are punches, and one was, but the rest of those are forearm strikes," Oliver said.
On social media, people also claimed they saw an officer stand on Scott's neck while trying to secure his arms.
"Yes his foot was in his neck area, but that sure looks to me like it's almost below his shoulder," Oliver said.
During the attempted arrest, Scott was tased three times; Ture says EMS should have been contacted immediately after the first tasing.
“There's enough data, and there's enough anecdotal evidence that tasing can lead to cardiac arrest, simply because [of] the way in which the taser operates. It captures the cardiac rhythm, and it can cause damage,” said Ture.
Oliver said there were moments when he was disappointed in his officers, including some of the foul language used towards Scott.
"I didn't like to see the reaction of one of our officers who came to the scene," Oliver said.
The officer grabbed Scott by his shirt, and other officers had to intervene and remove him.
As well as an officer placing a taser on Scott's heart after he was arrested.
"I do not understand why a taser was pointed to Scott's chest after he was in custody. I do know that taser wasn't active and I do know it didn't get activated, but I don't understand why that took place," said Oliver.
Oliver says he plans to find out why it happened.
"I’m going to review it with the city manager and figure out the best course of action," said Oliver.
Ture also questioned the actions of the officer placing a Taser to Scott's chest.
"This officer deliberately takes the taser and puts it to his chest, right where the heart is, which was very uncomfortable for me as both a former police officer and someone who trains police officers. It is against all training, and we are to avoid at all costs applying a Taser to the cardiac region as much as possible,” Ture said.
Scott’s fiancee, Brittany Penfield, says after seeing all of the videos, she has more clarity on the situation but still wants to see consequences for certain officers involved.
"Those officers need to be punished for their actions, they were not right in what they did. And I understand Scotty was not right in what he did," said Penfield.
Oliver says the incident is under investigation and being reviewed by the patrol commander.
"I'm very thankful that everybody came home, other than Scott going to jail, but I'm thankful he's here too because this could have ended differently," Oliver said.
