By Adam Ferrise
cleveland.com
CLEVELAND, Ohio — Lorain County has agreed to pay about $6.3 million to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit brought by a man who suffered a permanent spinal cord injury after a 2023 confrontation inside the county jail.
The settlement resolves claims against Lorain County and the city of Elyria filed by Jeffrey Fry , who said he was seriously injured when a corrections officer slammed his head into a wall and concrete floor while his hands were cuffed behind his back. A portion of the settlement involving a private defendant will remain confidential, according to Fry’s attorneys.
The settlement ends a lawsuit Fry filed in January 2024 seeking $40 million in damages.
“This resolution reflects the importance of holding public officials accountable when constitutional rights are violated and demonstrates that our civil justice system can provide meaningful access to justice for every individual,” Fry’s attorney, Nicholas DiCello, said in a statement.
The incident, and several other accusations of excessive force around the same time, led to widespread changes. A new sheriff, Jack Hall, was elected and Lorain County officials created an inspector general position in charge of investigating incidents at the jail.
Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer reached out to sheriff’s officials for comment.
Fry suffered the injuries after his May 2023 arrest on a warrant accusing him of failing to appear on a probation violation stemming from a 2020 misdemeanor attempted sexual imposition conviction.
According to the lawsuit, Fry complied with officers’ commands after Elyria police arrested him and took him to the Lorain County Jail.
Surveillance video captured the confrontation inside the jail’s booking area. The lawsuit said a corrections officer was leading Fry, who was handcuffed and barefoot, toward a body scanner when Fry briefly slipped from the officer’s grasp. The officer then grabbed Fry, turned him around and slammed his head into a wall. The impact knocked Fry unconscious.
The lawsuit said officers attempted to lift Fry to his feet, but his body went limp. He remained motionless until several officers dragged him into the booking area, where he was later placed on a gurney and taken to a hospital.
Doctors diagnosed Fry with multiple spinal fractures, along with bleeding and swelling around his spinal cord, according to the lawsuit. Because of the severity of his injuries, he was transferred to University Hospitals’ main campus in Cleveland.
The lawsuit also said jail employees failed to provide appropriate medical care despite clear signs that Fry had suffered a serious head, neck and spinal cord injury.
The officer accused of slamming Fry into the wall, Brian Tellier, was later charged with felonious assault and other crimes in connection with the incident. A jury found him not guilty on all charges.
Tellier later agreed to give up his law enforcement career as part of a plea agreement in a separate case of child endangering. In that case, he was charged after his 6-year-old son ate a THC gummy. He was sentenced to serve one year on probation.
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