Fired cop takes deal, enters plea to resolve two criminal charges

A former Troy police officer fired for excessive use of force and policy violations entered a provisional guilty plea Tuesday as part of an agreement to resolve two criminal charges in the April 25 incident that led to his firing.

Eric Kilbourne, 47, of Troy was indicted by a Miami County grand jury in August on misdemeanor charges of assault and interfering with civil rights. He had pleaded not guilty in county Municipal Court.

Kilbourne, a 17-year department veteran, was fired in June by Patrick Titterington, Troy’s service and safety director, for a series of alleged city and police department policy violations. Those alleged violations included use of excessive force, conduct unbecoming, malfeasance in office and not submitting truthful and complete reports.

The firing following an April 25 incident involved the arrest of a 37-year-old Bellefontaine man following a domestic related incident at the Hampton Inn and the handling of the suspect at the police department’s sally port,

Kilbourne was accused of holding the suspect in a headlock, taking him to the ground, pushing his face to the floor and placing his knee on the man’s arm, the report said. As the knee was on the arm, the suspect was “yelling in pain,” an investigation report said.

As part of the plea agreement outlined Tuesday, Kilbourne made the provisional guilty plea to a charge of disorderly conduct, amended from interfering with civil rights. The assault charge was dismissed.

Visiting Judge Thomas Hanna, appointed by the Ohio Supreme Court to handle the case, said Kilbourne would enter a diversion program. Hanna is a retired Kettering Municipal Court judge.

The program requires Kilbourne to complete an anger management program and counseling and not violate the law for the next six months. Hanna said he defined violating the law as being convicted, not just charged with an offense.

Kilbourne already has completed the anger management requirement, his lawyer William Stewart Mathews II said. If Kilbourne completes the second requirement of not violating the law, the disorderly conduct charge will be dismissed if he pays court costs, Hanna said.

Kilbourne answered questions from the judge but made no other comments. Special prosecutor James Miller of Dayton chose not to comment after the hearing.