An Ohio police department that received a negative backlash on social media for arresting a former congressional candidate under questionable circumstances as the man live streamed released their own dashcam videos from the incident Tuesday in an attempt to sway public opinion in its favor.
But the Springboro Police Department accompanied the videos with statements that contradicts the evidence in those very same videos, probably thinking nobody would notice.
For starters, they claim they tried to pull over Samuel Ronan, a progressive who has run on both the republican and democratic ticket, after witnessing him “operating his vehicle in an unsafe manner.”
But that contradicts what is seen on the officer’s dashcam video showing Ronan stopped at a red light in the left-turn lane with this left-turn signal on before making a left turn after the light turns green.
If anybody was driving in an unsafe manner, it was the cop who cuts across a lane to make an illegal u-turn (appearing to not even use a turn signal) in order to pull up behind Ronan.
The video also contradicts the statement from Warren County Prosecutor David P. Fornshell who claims Ronan was engaged in a road rage dispute with another driver prior to the cop trying to pull him over, which is what drew the cop’s attention.
That is not evidence at all in the video that was released, which doesn’t necessarily prove it didn’t happen.
But Fornshell also claims that Ronan pulled in front of an oncoming car when making the left at the intersection, but the video shows there is no other car.
That part is indisputable.
The dashcam video shows Ronan in the left-turn lane of an intersection while the light is red. His left blinker is on and he does not start driving until the light turns green.
He also remains inside the lane and does not appear to have violated any traffic laws when the police officer turns on his emergency lights and sirens and attempts to pull Ronan over.
Instead of coming to a complete spot as soon as possible as most people would have done, Ronan continues driving for another 40 seconds until he pulls into his parking spot at his apartment complex.
The cop yells at him to get down on the ground.
Ronan, who at this point is live streaming to his Facebook page, is asking the cops why did they pull him over in the first place but does not receive an answer from the cop who is threatening to taser him if he does not get on the ground.
A second cop pulls up and helps the first cop arrest him without having to taser him but without ever telling him why they tried to pull him over in the first place.
Ronan was charged with failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer, obstructing official business and obstructing justice. He has since been released but it not commenting on the arrest at this time.
Below are the statements from both the Springboro Police Department and Warren County Prosecutor David P. Fornshell.
The above video includes three synched videos; Ronan’s live streamed footage as well as dashcam footage from two police cars.