ELYRIA, Ohio — There are new developments expected in the two-year-old case of a Lorain County corrections officer accused of tossing a handcuffed man into a wall and breaking his neck.
When asked for an update on the case, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office said Sheriff Jack Hall planned to release information Tuesday.
On May 12, 2023, Jeff Fry was arrested by Elyria police on a misdemeanor bench warrant and taken to the Lorain County jail for booking.
Video showed a corrections officer walking Fry to a room for a body scan.
But along the way, jail surveillance video showed a handcuffed Fry appearing to turn away from the jailer escorting him.
In an instant, that officer, Brian Tellier, appeared to lower his weight and fling Fry toward a wall.
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Fry’s head and face hit the base of it.
“I was knocked out completely,” said Fry in a 2023 interview. “Body froze. Couldn’t move. Nothing. Nothing.”
In a report to supervisors, Tellier wrote that Fry fell due to his “inebriated and unstable state,” and that Tellier “guided” Fry to the floor.
But a lieutenant found that the report contained multiple inaccuracies and that Tellier used excessive force against Fry, who suffered a broken neck and paralysis.
Records showed the FBI requested video and reports from the incident in June.
Since then, Fry filed a $40 million lawsuit against the former sheriff, Tellier and others alleging civil rights violations.
“This is one of the most blatant and outrageous uses of excessive force that we have seen,” said attorney Nick DiCello at a January 2024 news conference announcing the lawsuit.
But it wasn’t until a new Lorain County sheriff took over in January 2025 that Tellier was suspended with pay.
RELATED: Lorain County corrections officer suspended after allegedly breaking inmate's neck in 2023
Sheriff Jack Hall announced he was turning the investigation over to his newly created corrections inspector general to either confirm the allegations or clear Tellier.
Both Fry and his attorney previously said they believe what happened inside the jail that day was criminal.
But when reached by phone Monday, DiCello said he wasn’t comfortable commenting on any potential criminal proceedings in the case.
George Gerkin, the union attorney representing Tellier, said he had no comment on the case.
