COLUMBUS — Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther is criticizing a decision overturning the firing of a police officer seen in a video that appeared to show him kicking a suspect in the head.
“We disagree with the decision of the arbitration of Columbus Police Officer Zach Rosen,” Ginther said in a statement released by his office. “We believe the Public Safety Director’s decision for termination was the correct one. However, we respect and will abide by the legally-binding arbitrator’s decision.”
Arbitrator Mitchell Goldberg said Rosen used more force than necessary, but there was no evidence he was trying to injure the suspect. Goldberg called the kick an “untrained technique.”
Goldberg reduced Rosen’s punishment to the equivalent of a three-day suspension without pay.
Ginther says the details and timing of Rosen’s reinstatement are being left up to police Chief Kim Jacobs.
“We expect officers to uphold the well-being of all citizens,” Columbus city council president Shannon Hardin said. “Therefore, like Mayor Ginther, we believe Public Safety Director Pettus made the correct decision when he terminated Officer Rosen.”
Hardin says the city council will abide by the ruling.
A video taken last year showed an officer restraining a prone man and preparing to handcuff him when Rosen arrives and appears to kick the man in the head.
Rosen has always denied kicking suspect DeMarko Anderson in the head during the arrest in Linden saying instead he was aiming for his shoulder.
Goldberg noted Rosen could have used less forceful options such as dropping a knee on the suspect’s shoulder.
Rosen was also involved in the fatal shooting of a man in 2016 that led to criticism of the police department and a lawsuit.
Columbus police say 23-year-old Henry Green, who was black, ignored commands to drop his gun during the shooting by Rosen and a second officer, who are both white.
A grand jury declined to indict the officers last year, and last month an internal Columbus police investigation cleared them.
Green’s family said in a wrongful death lawsuit last year there is no evidence to back up police claims that witnesses heard them identify themselves as police officers before opening fire, or that Green pointed a weapon at the officers.