Canton, Alliance police cleared in fatal shootings of Jeffrey Neff and George Appleby

CANTON – Police officers from Canton and Alliance who fatally shot suspects last year have been cleared by the Stark County grand jury.

The decision not to indict the officers followed the completion of investigations by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation into the shooting deaths of Jeffrey Neff in Canton and George "Joe" Appleby in Alliance. The BCI reports were referred to the Stark County Prosecutor's Office.

The grand jury made its decisions last month, but they were not initially made public. The Canton Repository learned about the grand jury decisions from the Ohio Attorney General's Office after following up with the state agency on the status of the investigations.

Stark County Prosecutor Kyle Stone said the grand jury declined to indict based on the facts and testimony provided. He said the outcomes were not provided in grand jury reports because there were no underlying charges that would either be no-billed or remanded to municipal court. He said it was an oversight that a press release was not issued about the conclusion of the cases.

The BCI documents are consistent with initial reports about the incidents that were based on information from the Canton and Alliance police departments.

Jeffrey Neff fired first, shooting officer in leg

The BCI report says that Neff shot first, hitting Canton police officer Jacob Dryden in the right thigh during a foot chase between Interstate 77 north and the northbound entrance ramp from Cleveland Avenue SW on the night of June 7, 2023.

"Based on the physical evidence, it appeared Neff fired at officer Dryden as many as three times," the BCI report says. "However, the actual number of shots fired by Neff could not definitively be confirmed."

The report said Dryden fired 16 times. Neff, 41, had six gunshot wounds.

Ohio BCI prosecutor summary on Jeffrey Neff by Rick Armon on Scribd

Dryden and partner Scott Wohlheter had gone to the area in response to a reported disturbance at a nearby home in the 300 block of 25th Street SW.

The disturbance had been reported by a friend of Domnita Neff, the wife of the deceased.

Text messages between Domnita and the friend, contained in the BCI report, show Domnita asking her female friend, who lived on the next street, to call police to their home because Neff refused to leave.

The couple had been arguing about a notice Domnita received about a truck Jeffrey had rented and loaned to another man.

She told a BCI investigator that her husband "was not acting his normal self" on the day he was shot. She had told her husband of seven years that if he did not leave for drug rehabilitation that night, he couldn't come back at all.

A toxicology report in Neff's autopsy noted the presence of cocaine.

Dryden returned to regular duty on Aug. 20. Wohlheter returned to regular duty the week after the incident.

Attempts to reach union officials representing Dryden were unsuccessful. A message was left Friday on the phone of the Canton Police Patrolmen's Association .

Tye Lauener, an Alliance police officer who is the union representative to the Ohio Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, said, "We support and agree with the decision of the grand jury."

Canton police spokesman Lt. Dennis Garren said the department had no comment on the grand jury decision.

Jeffrey Neff's wife responds to BCI report

"No one has reached out to me nor helped me bury my husband," Domnita Neff said about the BCI report. "Victims of crime denied me help."

She also noted the police-involved deaths of Zachary Fornash and Frank Tyson , which occurred after her husband's. (Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct wording to reflect Frank Tyson was not shot.)

"... Ever since my husband has passed, look at what Canton city has done, because they can," she said. "Zach, Frank (are) among others that have to suffer due to the lack of consequences! I think all the families need to come together."

Ohio BCI continues to investigate the death of Tyson, who died in the custody of Canton police on April 18. He was pronounced dead at a hospital after being handcuffed and placed face down on the floor of the AMVETS post on Sherrick Road SE.

BCI has completed its investigation into the death of Fornash and referred it to the Stark County Prosecutor’s Office on June 18. An officer shot Fornash on Dec. 5 while responding to a citizen complaint that he had brandished a gun, which turned out to be a pellet gun, during an argument.

Alliance officer felt he had no choice but to shoot suspect

In the Sept. 3 shooting in Alliance, BCI concluded that Appleby was holding a knife to the neck of his live-in girlfriend Anita Tucker at their apartment on South Linden Avenue when police arrived. Appleby, 59, was holding the 68-year-old woman hostage.

Officer Lee Rose forced open the apartment door, entered and found Appleby behind a locked bedroom door. Officer Shane Tallman and Sgt. Stephen Minich worked together to open the bedroom door.

When the door opened, the report said, detective Robert Toussant — armed with a tactical rifle — stepped forward into the threshold of the room while yelling, “Hands up!”

Ohio BCI prosecutor summary on George Appleby by Rick Armon on Scribd

Appleby was standing upright behind Tucker with a large knife across her torso. His right arm was wrapped around her torso, with his right hand on the knife. His left hand was around her left bicep.

The report says Appleby initially moved his head behind her head while the knife rose upward. Blood was visible on her throat area. Officers again yelled, “Hands up! Hands up!”

While Appleby’s left hand began to rise, his right arm remained wrapped around her torso with his right hand continuing to grip the knife and his head directly behind her head.

Tucker then appeared to pull her head down and to her right, exposing Appleby’s head. As the knife rose toward the top of her shoulder and Appleby reached his left hand forward toward the barrel of Toussant’s rifle, Toussant fired two rounds, striking Appleby in the head. Appleby immediately fell to the floor and his girlfriend fell on top of him.

Documented: Alliance police release body camera footage, ID officers involved in fatal shooting

Toussant told the BCI investigator that if he did not act when he did, “He (Appleby) would have drug her back further into the room and probably murdered her right there." At the moment Toussant fired, he did not believe he had any other option available to him, the report said.

Alliance Police Chief Akenra X said he was pleased with the grand jury decision.

"I'm just very pleased that they saw it the way we did," he said. "I think that officer Toussant was put in a harrowing situation and a split-second decision had to be made to save that lady's life. He took that and it came out well."

Toussant said: "The grand jury does what the grand jury does. It's their job to go through the facts, and everything, of the case, and look at the investigation and make their decisions how they feel they should be made."

Toussant was on paid administrative leave for about a month after the incident before returning to duty.

Alliance police: Five officers to get TOP COPS award for 2023 heroic actions

He and the four other officers who responded to the incident received the 2024 TOP COPS award from the National Association of Police Organizations for saving the woman's life.

The BCI report about the fatal shooting included a five-page summary of previous Alliance police interactions with Appleby, including a 2022 arrest for hitting his girlfriend in the face and strangling her. Appleby pleaded guilty, was placed on probation and ordered to have no contact with the victim. A decision on a probation officer's request to revoke or modify his probation was pending in Stark County Common Pleas Court at the time of his death.

Reach Nancy at 330-580-8382 or nancy.molnar@cantonrep.com. On X, formerly known as Twitter: @nmolnarTR.

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Canton, Alliance police cleared in fatal shootings of Jeffrey Neff and George Appleby