A Toledo police officer involved in the July arrest of Olympic boxer Oshae Jones was verbally reprimanded for her conduct during the encounter, records show.
Officer Ashlyn Pluff violated a section of the police department's rules manual on "demeanor.” She twice used profanity directed at the boxer, according to the reprimand document, which was signed on Nov. 18 by Sgt. Michael Comes.
On the same July 31 call related to dispersing a large crowd, the officer also "made a derogatory comment to a woman holding a small child, criticizing her quality of parenting for having the child out at that late hour," the reprimand states.
TOLEDO POLICE VERBAL REPRIMAND DOCUMENT | INVESTIGATIVE SUPPLENTAL CRIME REPORT | POLICE REPORT
Officer Pluff was also investigated for striking Ms. Jones in the side of the head during the arrest — which an internal affairs report characterized as an “open hand stun.” The officer was exonerated on that charge — labeled as “Unnecessary Use of Physical Control Techniques" — following the internal investigation.
Ms. Jones, a Toledo native and Olympic bronze medalist, was arrested in the early morning of July 31 after Toledo police were attempting to disperse a large crowd near Lawrence Avenue and Wall Street.
She was charged with three misdemeanors — failure to disperse, resisting arrest, and obstructing official business. A jury trial is scheduled for Feb. 21.
"As police officers, we are held to a higher standard and expected to maintain professionalism," the reprimand of Officer Pluff said, adding she should review department rules on demeanor.
"Therefore as an officer, it is important that you make the effort to remain calm and composed when attempting to control a situation and are confronted with such an individual. Failing to do so reflects negatively on you as an officer, on the department as a whole and can have the unintended effect of exacerbating an already volatile situation."
Police responded to the Central Toledo neighborhood at about 3:50 a.m. after getting a call about a large crowd, including people with weapons, police records state. Police reported seeing an "extremely large group of people occupying the block."
A sergeant would later suggest officers were on edge as they arrived because gunfire had erupted from a 2021 4th of July party at the same location. In that case, about a dozen people were shot, with one killed.
Before encountering Ms. Jones, police said they had asked about 15 people crowding around a porch in the 2700 block of Lawrence to disperse.
Ms. Jones had been asleep, and eventually was awoken by banging on her door. She came downstairs and learned that her boyfriend had been arrested, her attorney, N. John Bey, has said.
Police say as they continued to try and clear the large crowd, Ms. Jones and another woman with a baby began filming. They wanted to get a phone from the man who had just been arrested and led away. Ms. Jones was also asking for the badge number of one of the officers involved in the arrest.
At the nearby intersection, Ms. Jones, the woman with the baby, and several officers were gathered, and an argument ensued, police wrote in the internal affairs report.
Police say Ms. Jones was asked to back up and leave, and eventually, Officer Pluff tried to place handcuffs on her. Video shows as officers try to arrest her, Officer Pluff struck Ms. Jones in the side of the head. The internal affairs report describes the strike as Officer Pluff trying to prevent Ms. Jones from turning around.
Ms. Jones yelled, "She just hit me!"
"Due to being in such close contact and Jones repeatedly turning closer to my face, I also utilized head control by pushing the side of her face away from mine in an attempt to ensure officer safety from bodily fluids," Officer Pluff wrote in her account of the incident.
The officer wrote that police were "grossly outnumbered," and she was concerned about officer safety, including while she was arresting Ms. Jones.
The report alleges Ms. Jones "escalated the situation" and that she "resisted the efforts" of officers "both verbally and physically."
It said Officer Pluff's actions to control Ms. Jones, including the strike, were justified.
Ms. Jones's attorney has said it was an assault on his client, and called for the charges to be dismissed.
"She was assaulted, she was handcuffed, and her life was changed," Mr. Bey has said.
Mr. Bey did not respond to a request for comment on the reprimand of Officer Pluff and the internal affairs report on Monday. A representative for the Toledo Police Patrolman's Association declined to comment.
First Published January 30, 2023, 5:41 p.m.
