Stomp victim accused of spitting at officer
A man who was stomped on by a Columbus police officer last April was arrested early Friday morning after he spit in an officer's eye, according to court records.
Police said they were called at 1:55 a.m. to the 1700 block of North High Street on a report of a man with a gun. The area is near several bars and the Ohio State University campus. When officers arrived, several people pointed to Demarko Anderson and said he had a gun.
Officers approached Anderson, who attempted to pull away as officers tried to take him into custody. Once he eventually was inside the police wagon, police say, he started kicking and banging his head against the vehicle.
Officer Carl Harmon opened the door to check on Anderson and calm him down when Anderson spit directly in the officer's right eye, police said. Anderson, 27, now faces a charge of harassment with a bodily substance.
In April 2017, police say, Anderson had pushed and elbowed in the face another Columbus police officer who was attempting to arrest him. Officers were responding to a report of a man with a gun near a residence in Linden at the time.
The officer eventually took Anderson down at the end of a concrete driveway. As it appeared the officer was finishing handcuffing Anderson, a video circulated on social media showed former Columbus Police Officer Zachary Rosen run up and stomp on Anderson once with his left foot. Anderson's head struck the pavement.
Weapons and menacing charges against Anderson are still pending in Franklin Count Common Pleas Court from that incident.
Rosen was fired in July when Public Safety Director Ned Pettus Jr. overrode a recommendation by Chief Kim Jacobs to suspend Rosen for 24 hours for the incident. The decision was appealed and an arbitrator could make a binding decision as early as March on whether Rosen will return to work.