SUMMARY: According to a complaint filed 6/4/08 in The US District Court, Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division (shown below), 3 Sagamore Hills Police Officers were sent to a single mother’s house late at night in June of 2007 by her ex-husband, a Summit County Sheriff’s Deputy. The Deputy wanted the officers to get his daughter, so he could take her out of the country after the mother said no. Among those officers, was Nordonia Hills school board candidate and current Sagamore Hills Officer, Tim Ellis.
The 3 officers arrived at the mother’s house around 1am and knocked on the door without having a legitimate reason for doing so, while the Sheriff’s Deputy waited down the street. When the mother opened the door, the 3 officers entered her home even though they did not have a search warrant, court order or arrest warrant. The mother repeatedly asked them to leave, and they refused. One even said “where is (child)? I hear (child) is going to Mexico.”
Following being told to leave on several occasions and refusing to leave, Ellis and the other 2 officers arrested the mother in her own home for persistent disorderly conduct. The arrest of the mother was done without probable cause, and in violation of her civil rights. Excessive force was used to effect the unlawful arrest.
Once the mother was arrested, her Sheriff’s Deputy ex-husband entered her home and took the child, and eventually took her out of the country without the mother’s consent. Ellis and the 2 other officers “assisted their fellow law enforcement officer in the abduction of the child” from the mother’s custody. (Case: 5:08-cv-01354-SL Doc #: 1 Filed: 06/04/08 6 of 23. PageID #: 6)
The mother was indicted on charges of Assault, 2903.13(A), Felony 4, Resisting Arrest, 2921.33(B), Misdemeanor 1, Persistent Disorderly Conduct, 2917.11(A)(2), Misdemeanor 4, in Summit County Common Pleas Court, Case No.: CR 2007-06-2109, based on the testimony provided by all 3 Officers and the Sheriff’s Deputy.
The mother proceeded to jury trial, and was acquitted of all charges. An investigation done by Wayne County determined that the officers should not have been there in the first place, and should have left when the mother asked them to. The mother filed a complaint, and Sagamore Hills quickly reached a settlement with the mother, awarding her $650,000.00. As part of this settlement, the Sagamore Hills Police Chief requested that Tim Ellis be exonerated because while he still broke many laws, he did so under the direction of his superior, who was demoted because of this incident.
View the court complaint filed by the mother with more details of what happened:
Full Plain Dealer article (pictured above):
SEE BELOW: “One of the other officers involved in the incident at McLaughlin’s house, Patrolman Tim Ellis, was fired by Woodmere in 2004 for using a Taser on a woman in her car during a traffic stop, according to village records.
His personnel file is a bit ambiguous about the severity of the Tasering. But a videotape
indicates that Ellis had difficulty controlling what should have been a routine traffic stop.
Inside of 16 minutes, he orders the woman out of the car, she gets out, he orders her back in,
she gets in, then he orders her back out. When she refuses, he uses the Taser.”
“In Sagamore, Ellis was involved in two similar incidents last year, leading to his suspension
and psychological evaluation.
In one, he ordered a man out of his car during a traffic stop, ordered him back in, then reached
in and forcibly removed him from the car. In the other, he pepper-sprayed a truck driver. A
memo from the police chief at the time said Ellis had no basis for stopping the trucker in the
first place.”
Plain Dealer article discussing Tim Ellis’ “blemished history”:
MORE SOURCES:
Two police in custody dispute have disciplinary records
Sagamore Hills woman acquitted of assault on police
Jury clears woman held amid custody dispute
Lawsuit Targets Township Police Department
Sagamore Hills pays to settle suit over arrest in custody dispute
http://behindthebluewall.blogspot.com/2008/07/oh-police-lt-smiths-ex-somier.html
If any of Officer Ellis’ behavior mentioned above concerns you, please sign our petition.