FBI subpoenas Put-in-Bay police records

PUT-IN-BAY — The FBI subpoenaed Put-in-Bay on Saturday to obtain records related to possible civil rights violations committed by island police. The federal agency is looking at two incidents — one on May 24 in which an officer allegedly threw a black woman to the ground, and another on June 6 in which officers arrested nine Sandusky residents, most of whom are black, after a golf cart traffic stop. Ottawa County prosecutor James VanEerten gave an update on his agency's collaboration with the FBI's investigation. "I've met with them," VanEerten said. "They requested body camera footage and police reports, which I supplied. But absent that, I won't be kept in the loop (of their investigation.)" An FBI spokesperson, Special Agent Vicki Anderson, told the Register the agency is investigating but did not answer specific questions about the probes. "The FBI is working with our law enforcement partners and the community in regards to the events surrounding a group of arrests made in Put-in-Bay on June 6. At this time we cannot provide any further information," Anderson said. VanEerten said any charges involving alleged civil rights misconduct of Put-in-Bay police officers would come from the FBI. VanEerten said he's still investigating "numerous videos" of the June 6 traffic stop to decide whether or not to pursue charges against the nine Sandusky residents, comprised of six men and three women. The six men involved in the incident previously had their charges dropped by VanEerten; the three women never had any charges filed. Village's investigation Put-in-Bay's village council previously voted to hire an outside agency to investigate the June 6 incident. But there's still not been a decision made on who will conduct the investigation. Mayor Jessica Dress said the village solicitor is narrowing down the list of candidates and hopes to have a decision made by the end of the week. Dress said FBI agents visited the island on Saturday and served a subpoena on the police department for records related to the two incidents. Surge of calls Put-in-Bay EMTs responded to a record number of calls within a 12-hour period this weekend. Dress said they handled 26 calls on Saturday, and five patients needed to be transported from the island by medical helicopter. The reasons for the five helicopter transports were not known, but overall, 20 of the incidents were alcohol-related, three involved bodily trauma and three involved suspected overdoses. Dress said the island continues to see large crowds — the kind they typically don't see until late summer. "We're one of the few tourist destinations still open for business," she said. On Friday and Saturday, the village's police department had an average of 15 officers on duty, which was supplemented by some Ottawa County sheriff's deputies, Dress said. Police arrested 10 people on Saturday: three on assault charges, three on intoxicated driving charges, three for disorderly conduct charges and one on a drug trafficking charge. Dress said she's calling a meeting of the Safe Island Task Force this week to talk to business owners about ways to curb some of that activity, including having business owners ensure their staff knows when to stop serving someone alcohol and also to encourage businesses to stop allowing overnight golf cart rentals.