ELYRIA — Johnny Smith Jr., the man allegedly punched by an Elyria police officer while handcuffed to a hospital bed, is back in the Lorain County Jail after testing positive for cocaine.

Smith, 43, was released from jail less than two weeks ago after serving six months on charges of failure to comply, obstructing official business and DUI for the Jan. 27 incident that led to his arrest.

According to Elyria Municipal Court records, during a Thursday hearing Smith admitted to using cocaine. The drug use violated a condition of his plea agreement in a 2010 case in which he pleaded no contest to attempted unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.

He was supposed to remain clean for five years or he would have to serve a 120-day jail sentence, court records showed.

Court records also indicated that Smith, who was awarded $50,000 from the city of Elyria to avoid a threatened lawsuit, had just paid off the fines in the 2010 case.

A call to Smith’s lawyer wasn’t returned Thursday.

Smith was one of two men arrested by Elyria police officers following the theft of steaks and beer from Apples grocery store on Cleveland Street. Police reports indicate he nearly ran over Elyria police Officer James Rider with the semi he was driving, but Smith has said he didn’t see Rider.

Police surrounded the truck on Cleveland Street and reported having to physically remove a struggling Smith from the cab and force him into handcuffs. Smith has said he complied with officers, whom he has accused of beating him without reason.

Special Prosecutor John Reulbach Jr. and police have both found those allegations unfounded following their investigations.

After Smith was subdued, he was placed in a police car and taken to EMH Medical Center in Elyria so that his injuries could be checked out. While he was there the intoxicated Smith — he had a blood-alcohol level of 0.355, well above the legal limit — made a comment that he wished more police officers had died on March 15, 2010.

That’s the day Ronald Palmer ambushed and killed Elyria police Officer James Kerstetter, who was responding to a call on 18th Street. Elyria police officers Jay Loesch and Donald Moss later shot and killed Palmer when he refused orders to surrender and charged Loesch.

Loesch was one of the officers at the hospital with Smith and after he heard the comment, he and Officer Richard Walker closed to the door to Smith’s hospital room, and Loesch allegedly struck Smith once in the face.

A nurse told police she saw the blow on a monitor connected to a video camera in the room.
Loesch was given a 10-day suspension — five days of which he won’t have to serve unless he gets in trouble again in the next year — following an internal police investigation.

Smith and his lawyer later requested a criminal investigation into Loesch’s behavior, and Reulbach charged Loesch with misdemeanor assault, a charge to which the veteran officer has pleaded not guilty.

Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.