Springfield Township police announced Thursday they cleared an officer of fault in a September 2015 incident involving the death of a man who was shot with a stun gun.
Jordn Miller, 24, died Sept. 10 — two days after he was struck with a stun gun during what was described as a drug-fueled confrontation with police. Springfield police asked the Summit County Prosecutor’s Office to conduct an independent investigation to determine whether the officer acted within the law.
There was some concern that the stun gun had caused Miller’s death. But the county Medical Examiner’s Office ruled in March that Miller died of “hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy,” a brain injury caused by oxygen deprivation. The condition was caused by cardiac arrest due to drug intoxication and psychiatric illness, the office reported.
Chief Medical Investigator Gary Guenther said Miller’s cause of death was similar to a drug overdose. Miller had recently used methamphetamine, Guenther said.
County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh wrote in her ruling that the stun gun did not cause Miller’s death and force was required for everyone’s safety.
“The force used,” Walsh wrote, “was necessary to restrain and control the suspect in order to keep him from harming himself and others.”
Police agreed.
“Based on the reports from [prosecutors and medical investigators], we agree that the officer involved in the use of the Taser violated no Ohio statutes in his use of force,” police Sgt. Eric East said in a news release. “We also have confidence in the finding that the use of the Taser was not the cause of death of Jordn Miller.”
Police declined to say more.
Miller’s mother, Wendy Thomblin, told the Beacon Journal in September that she doubted the police told the truth about what happened to her son. She could not be reached for comment on Thursday.
According to reports, Miller was arrested after residents in the 1000 block of Abington Drive called police in September to report a man running around naked and otherwise acting strangely.
Responding officers found Miller, already bleeding from several injuries, inside a 2001 Jeep Cherokee. Residents said he was trying to steal the vehicle.
While officers attempted to apprehend him, Miller allegedly bit an officer in the calf — drawing blood — and an officer fired a stun gun in order to restrain him. That didn’t stop him, they said, so officers activated a second charge of the stun gun.
Paramedics arrived to officers, administering first aid. Miller stopped breathing on the scene, but paramedics were able to resuscitate him and transport him to a hospital.
Nick Glunt can be reached at 330-996-3565 or nglunt@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @NickGluntABJ.