Black Trucker Attacked By Police Dog Evokes Grim Memories For Black Ohio Residents

Black trucker Jadarrius Rose was apprehended on July 4, while driving his 18-wheeler through rural Ohio, by six highway patrol officers who cited a missing mudflap as cause for concern. While on his knees, with hands outstretched, Rose was attacked by a police dog in a scene resembling infamous Civil Rights moments in which law enforcement used K-9s to attack innocent Black civilians.

Now, residents of Circleville are grappling with the history of inequality in their otherwise-picturesque rural town that stands just 25 miles south of Columbus, OH, The Associated Press reported.

“Everyone doesn’t have the same experience, even though they’re all in the same town,” said Rev. Derrick Holmes, a Circleville resident and leader of the Second Baptist Church. “And I think those divisions exist around the realities of bigotry, the realities of racism.”

Though outrage about Rose’s attack spread through the small town, the circumstances felt all too familiar. “People were horrified by it,” Holmes said. “Angered by it. Frustrated by it. And also there was a feeling of, ‘Well, here we go again.’”

The concerns also stretch to the state as a whole, as the outlet reported 28% of Ohio State Highway Patrol’s 2013 to 2017 traffic stops involving Black motorists included the use of drug dogs. Almost two decades ago, Officer David Haynes, an alleged founder of the Circleville police K-9 unit, was fired for his public opposition to the department’s decision to cut back on training hours for dogs and their handlers on the force, according to the outlet.

He warned that “words like ‘deliberate indifference,’ ‘negligence’ and ‘failure to train’ will someday be brought up.” Currently, Circleville’s K-9s are required to train for 16 hours per month, or 192 hours per year as reported by The Associated Press.

Rose’s compliance, as well as his body position at the time of the incident, seemed to point to him being a non-threat to law enforcement; therefore, the decision to employ the use of a police dog is one many feel is an example of using excessive force.

”If it were a white man and a dog was unleashed on that individual, what would that community be saying? I bet they would be up in arms,” said Nana Jones, president of the Columbus Chapter of the NAACP.