WILMINGTON — The nearly year-old case of an incident between a bailiff and a 17-year-old appearing in the Clinton County Juvenile Court has been resolved, said a spokesperson with the Ohio Attorney General’s Office Wednesday.
A courtroom video released by the Clinton County Sheriff’s Office about two weeks after the March 7, 2016 incident appears to show the juvenile saying something, followed by bailiff Jim Buckner grabbing, pulling down and dragging the defendant. The video was viewed then more than 50,000 times on the News Journal’s website and Facebook page.
“Mr. Buckner agreed to resign from his position with the Clinton County Juvenile Court and to surrender his Ohio Peace Office Training Academy certification, which means he will not be able to be a peace officer in Ohio in the future,” OAG spokesperson Jill Del Greco told the News Journal.
She said that no charges will be filed and that “The victim in the case was in agreement with this resolution.”
Clinton County Juvenile and Probate Judge Chad L. Carey said Wednesday, “With deep regret, I accepted Mr. Buckner’s resignation a couple weeks ago. I lost a super-good employee who kept us safe up here.”
In March 2016 Clinton County Prosecutor Rick Moyer had requested the state’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation investigate, and the OAG’s office review, the incident.
Daniel Breyer was the special prosecutor assigned to the case from Attorney General Mike DeWine’s office’s Special Prosecutions Section.
“He [Buckner] didn’t have to take the action that he did,” Clinton County Public Defender Rob Baker told the News Journal in March 2016. “He was three or four feet away from the kid and went up to the kid, behind him and put him in a chokehold and used his other hand to cover his mouth and nose and face. … He was wrong when he put hands on him.”
Clinton County Magistrate Mark Miars was presiding when the incident occurred.
The juvenile, a male from the Columbus area, was the alleged driver of a stolen car with two other juvenile occupants that led Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers on a March 4, 2016 chase. The chase ended with the car crashing into a Rombach Avenue apartment building, troopers said.
Since the incident, multiple people had said Buckner was placed on leave; Carey had said last spring that he would neither deny nor confirm whether Buckner was on leave while the incident was under investigation.
Former Sabina Police Chief Tim Tyree has succeeded Buckner as a bailiff, Carey said Wednesday.
