Man who sued police gets prison for assault on officer

A South Side man who filed a federal lawsuit accusing Columbus police of violating his civil rights was sentenced Thursday to 30 months in prison for assaulting a city officer.

Timothy D. Davis, 32, was convicted by a Franklin County jury two weeks ago of assaulting an officer and obstructing official business during an attempted arrest in September 2016.

The sentence was imposed by Common Pleas Judge Richard A. Frye, who also fined Davis $5,000 plus court costs.

Davis sued in September 2017, shortly after he was arrested at a convenience store in the Driving Park neighborhood on several warrants, including one related to the 2016 assault on an officer.

Cellphone video footage of the incident inside the store shows plainclothes Columbus officers struggling to subdue Davis, who refused to comply with their instructions to put his hands behind his back and resisted being taken down. The officers used punches and knee kicks to subdue Davis. Davis

The incident attracted attention when it was revealed that one of the officers involved in the arrest made comments, captured on his body camera, about how he would have used abusive force against Davis.

Officer Joseph Bogard said he would have told Davis, “I’m going to for real armbar you, and then when that still doesn’t work, I’m going to choke the life out of you. Then while you’re drooling on yourself, I’ll handcuff you.”

Bogard received a written reprimand from Police Chief Kim Jacobs.

Davis’ assault on an officer occurred a year before the arrest in Driving Park. In the September 2016 incident, Davis managed to escape from officers after a struggle during which he struck an officer in the face with the handcuff that had been placed on one of his wrists. The officer required stitches above his right eye.

Davis has a long history of resisting and fleeing officers, Assistant Prosecutor Jason Manning told the judge, including a pending case in Kentucky in which he is accused of running over a state trooper’s foot while fleeing a traffic stop.