Officers' files show no history of violence

PERKINS TWP. — Personnel files of corrections officers present for a 2021 incident when an inmate was allegedly choked found several policy infractions but no prior history of violence toward inmates. Last week, a federal grand jury indicted former Erie County Sheriff's Office correction officer Adam Bess, accused of choking an inmate on Oct. 31. Bess faces one count of deprivation of rights. Surveillance video of the incident appears to show Bess grabbing a female inmate by the throat while other corrections officers attempt to place her in a chair with arm and leg restraints. At one point, the woman can be heard saying "I can't breathe." The sheriff's office policy in response to resistance/aggression states, "Choke holds are prohibited except in situations where the use of deadly force would be allowed." The policy requires the following: • A chokehold be released when it no longer appears reasonably necessary. • People who receive a chokehold, regardless of loss of consciousness, should be medically examined by paramedics. • Anyone who applies a chokehold or knows one was applied must tell anyone receiving custody or who are called to medically examine the person. • Anyone attempting or successfully applying a chokehold is required to notify a supervisor. An internal investigation overseen by Lt. Trevor Harlow concluded Bess violated the policy and that Bess' written narrative of the incident is "at the very least negligently inaccurate, if not intentionally falsified." Bess' one-page report on the incident makes no mention of the chokehold. It states the inmate kicked a corrections officer, something the officer denied having occurred. Harlow interviewed Bess on Nov. 2 and documented that in his report. "I guess I was too rough and kind of grabbed her around the neck so I could get her to stop," Bess purportedly told Harlow. Bess resigned from the sheriff's office two days later, Nov. 4, ahead of a scheduled pre-disciplinary conference. All jail personnel received instruction in the response to resistance/aggression policy in January. They were then tested on the subject. One question on the policy test is a true or false statement, "Chokeholds may be used at the discretion of an agency employee at any time, even if deadly force is not warranted." Bess correctly circled "F" for "false," records show. Bess' personnel file shows four write-ups, none of them involving use of force: • Nov. 27, 2015 — Bess was observed by the sheriff to be unshaven. • Dec. 3, 2016 — Bess failed to perform 30-minute jail checks as required by policy. • March 24, 2019 — Bess had his cellphone in the jail. • Sept. 14, 2019 — Bess logged in to the time clock using another officer's credentials. Bess consistently received high marks on annual performance evaluations. In his most recent evaluation, from January, he earned a top grade in every category except knowledge of work, in which he scored the second highest grade. A December 2018 evaluation states one major area for improvement: that he is easily frustrated at times. Failure to intervene A female corrections officer involved in the incident, according to the department's internal investigation, failed to intercede to stop the choking and failed to immediately report the incident to a supervisor. Erie County Sheriff Paul Sigsworth fired the officer on Nov. 12. She then filed a grievance through her union, the Ohio Patrolmen's Benevolent Association. Before arbitration could occur, the woman, the union and Sigsworth came to an agreement that rescinded her termination and allowed her to resign. The agreement also allowed her to collect a payout for her accrued 144 hours of vacation and 40 hours of sick leave. Her resignation was backdated to Nov. 8. A stipulation of the agreement allowing her to resign is that the original documentation regarding her termination will remain in her personnel file. Her personnel file shows only two write-ups in her 11-year career: • March 25, 2013 — The officer was found to have signed a roster sheet on which not all inmates were accounted for. One inmate had been released but not removed from the count sheet. Throughout the shift, she failed to notice the discrepancy. • May 13, 2019 — She allowed an inmate out of his cell without approval. The inmate and another inmate who was in the segregation area to make a phone call, immediately began fighting. Two other male corrections officers who were involved in the incident did not face disciplinary action. One, who was hired in August 2021, told Harlow that he was focusing on securing straps on the restraint chair and did not observe Bess choking the inmate. His most recent evaluation from December showed middling marks in most categories. His highest mark was an 8 out of 10 in the personality category. This corrections officer transferred from the jail to adult probation in April. He is assigned to pretrial services. The other corrections officer involved was the one to bring the restraint chair into the processing area. He stated he was not sure of the placement of Bess' hands on the inmate. He told Harlow that he heard the inmate state that she could not breathe. Later in the shift, he approached the female officer with concerns about the incident. He told Harlow he "did not find the level of force appropriate during the encounter," according to Harlow's investigation report. The officer's most recent evaluation from December shows he received average marks in most categories. He scored high in the cooperation and personality categories. In February, the officer resigned as a full-time corrections officer to enter the police academy. He was immediately rehired as a part-time corrections officer.