New charge filed against man bit by K-9 at traffic stop

A new charge has been filed against a Toledo man who was bitten by a police dog at a traffic stop on April 11.

Brandon Upchurch, a 38-year-old Black man, was pulled over after a license-plate reader mistakenly identified his pickup’s plate as stolen. Even though police determined the plate was not stolen, Mr. Upchurch was arrested for obstructing official business and resisting arrest.

Now, three months later, a third charge has been added: failure to comply with the order of a police officer.

According to the police report and body cam videos from the officers at the scene, the responding officer — with his gun pulled — for two minutes continuously ordered Mr. Upchurch to shut his vehicle off and toss the keys out the window, and Mr. Upchurch did not comply.

Once additional officers arrived on scene, Mr. Upchurch turned the truck off.

The officer then asked Mr. Upchurch to exit the vehicle, which he only did after multiple requests. Mr. Upchurch asked officers at least five times why he had been stopped.

“What is this all for?” he asked three times in a row with no response.

Mr. Upchurch then walked to a patch of grass beside the road, as an officer directed him to, but he refused to turn away from the officers and get on the ground, prompting one officer to warn him, “You’re gonna get bit.”

The officer repeated commands for Mr. Upchurch — who appeared to be recording the incident with his cell phone — to get on the ground, before releasing his K-9, which bit Mr. Upchurch’s right arm.

The addition of a third charge — coming months after the first two — came as a surprise to Jerry Phillips, Mr. Upchurch’s attorney.

After talking to the chief of litigation for the city, Jeff Charles, Mr. Phillips was expecting the state and his client to come to an agreement, he said.

“My assumption was they were going to dismiss the cases, and then we’d talk about a resolution for the damages to my client because he has scarring on his arm from where the dog bit him,” Mr. Phillips said.

It is unusual to see the state change its intended prosecution charges after several months, Mr. Phillips said.

“It seems to me that they knew they were in a precarious situation with regard to the first two charges — would be unable to carry the burden with those — and that they thought this may fit better with the facts shown on the videos,” Mr. Phillips said.

The Toledo prosecutor’s office declined to comment.

The original two charges, obstruction and resisting arrest, require an action such as pulling your wrist away or fighting with the officer, Mr. Phillips explained. The new charge is focused on not doing something you’re told to do, he said.

Following the initial arrest, the NAACP and city leaders spoke out, demanding accountability for police actions.

“To see a dog being sicced on a man of color who was not violating anything but requesting why he was being pulled over, and to see the footage, it was very hurtful, it was unacceptable,” said Reggie Williams, executive director of the Frederick Douglass Community Association.

Toledo police conducted an internal investigation and found that there was no wrongdoing in the use of the dog.

Nevertheless, Police Chief Michael Troendle was critical of how the incident played out.

“This was not a good situation, obviously,” he said in May. “It was not a good use of a K-9, in my opinion.”

While the officer will not be disciplined in relation to K-9 use, he will be reprimanded for failing to verify the license plate as stolen, the chief said.