SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP, Ohio — A Summit County woman remains in the hospital after sustaining injuries Tuesday that Springfield Township Police Chief Jack Simone described as "horrific." However, through de-escalation tactics and the assistance of a hotel once accused of being a public nuisance, the 30-year-old suspect was quickly taken into custody.
On Tuesday, Springfield Township police officers took Sterling Childs, 30, into custody after a brief foot chase in a wooded area off Archmere Dr., just east of South Arlington Road. Childs, who has since been charged with felonious assault and a weapon specification, is accused of beating and cutting his 39-year-old girlfriend with a box cutter.
The woman suffered severe injuries to her eyes, face, head and body. She remains in critical condition.
"I would describe what the officers had to witness as shocking. Being in law enforcement for 25 years, I have never seen something that horrific," said Chief Jack Simone. "I’ve never seen an assault that brutal. He cut her several times using a box cutter. He stabbed her eyes and then punched her several times."
Officers were dispatched to the Quality Inn on South Arlington Road in reference to an assault on Tuesday evening. Officers found the badly-bleeding victim in a third-floor hotel room. Despite the severity of her injuries, the victim was able to identify Childs as the suspect. Using hotel records and surveillance video, officers were able to verify that Childs had been staying in the room.
Although commonplace for other hotels, the fact that the Quality Inn had those records and surveillance video is significant progress, Simone said.
In January, Summit County and the owner of the hotel, Hexagon Properties, Inc., entered into an abatement agreement after the county and Springfield Township sought to have the hotel shut down and declared a public nuisance. Prior to the court action, officials said there had been 583 calls for police service and 69 overdoses from 2020 through 2022. As part of the abatement agreement, the hotel's owner agreed to make improvements to the hotel's camera system; exterior lighting; the adoption of a zero-tolerance and no-party list; policies that require a credit card deposit as well as the collection of identification information for all room guests.
"The owner so far has been following that order. I personally meet with him every week. We go over parts of the agreed order. He’s followed through with them. In this case, the agreed order really showed a benefit to our police department," Chief Simone said. "One of the requirements is that they get identifications of everyone in the room. Having those identifications made it easy and quick for the officers to identify the suspect in this situation. Even with the name [of the suspect], we didn’t have any additional information. The ID provided all of the information. If [the victim] was unable to provide us that ID of the suspect, then, absolutely, having that in place showed its importance, especially in this incident."
Childs had fled the scene prior to officers arriving on the scene. After the victim had been rushed to the hospital, a passerby called the police after seeing a man attempting to break into a shed. Officers then began to pursue Childs on foot. According to a police body camera video, Childs picks up a brick from a debris pile and then allegedly threatens officers with it.
"Sterling then walked toward the officers, yelling, 'Shoot me, shoot me,' Simone said. "The officers did an amazing job. They showed great restraint on that situation."
The initial responding officer — the one whose body camera captured the video obtained by News 5 — repeatedly orders Childs to drop the brick as the officer maintains the distance between him and the suspect. A short time later, the officer then informs the two other responding officers that Childs is armed with the brick, urging police to shoot him.
"I hope other police departments view the officers’ conduct on this situation. I would describe it as textbook. They didn’t go to fast on Mr. Sterling. They walked slow to him. They really encouraged him to do the right thing: put the brick down and surrender to officers," Simone said. "He identified the situation. He called out to the officers what Sterling’s intentions were so that the officers could calm down a little bit, regroup, and then approach that situation the way that they did."
According to the police body camera video, the officers appeared to have remained calm and composed during the encounter. Although Childs appeared to have been armed with a brick, which can be considered a deadly weapon, the officers' patience and persistence resulted in the brief encounter ending without incident.
Childs, a native of Baltimore, was taken into custody — without the use of force. In their encounter with Childs, Officers showed greater patience and restraint than what Childs allegedly showed the victim.
"Credit to those officers because they just witnessed [the victim's injuries] and a few minutes later they have the suspect in their sights. They still used amazing restraint in dealing with that individual," Simone said. "They had just witnessed what he is capable of at the hotel... To show up here, they provided [Childs] distance, allowing him to make the best choice in this situation."
Childs remains at the Summit County Jail on felonious assault charges, which are expected to be upgraded. The victim remains in critical condition.
RELATED: 583 police calls to same Springfield Township hotel lead to nuisance complaint
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