A deputy who is on suspended-leave from the Pike County Sheriff’s office after he was arrested last month had his bond conditions modified Tuesday.
Deputy Erik Zirneskie is facing two first degree misdemeanor charges and up-to a year in jail after he was arrested by officers with Hilliard Police Department in Franklin County a day before Christmas eve after a fight with his fiance.
Zirneskie pleaded not guilty at his December arraignment, but as part of his bond conditions, he could not carry a gun and had to stay away from his live-in fiance; he was suspended by the Pike County Sheriff’s office until the outcome of the charges.
Zirneskie was set to appear in his first pre-trial hearing today, but it was postponed to February. Though, a Judge agreed to modify bond conditions that would allow the deputy to communicate via text and over the phone with his fiance.
The fiancé — who the Guardian is not naming — walked into the Hilliard Police Department and said she feared for her life.
She told officers that the two were sitting on their bed when Zirneskie grabbed her head and forcibly held it against his own. On the other side, the woman said he held a loaded handgun against his face while saying “he wanted to end it all.” The fiancé said she feared for her life and for Zirneskie.
Handcuffed, taken to jail, and charged with aggravated menacing and domestic violence with physical harm, Zirneskie appeared before the duty judge and pleaded not guilty a day after he was taken into custody. He was let out of jail on a signature bond with stipulations that he stay away from guns, can’t have any further acts of violence while on bail, and he must stay away from his fiancé.
Zirneskie, 27, who was hired by the Sheriff’s office in 2016, has a personnel record that is lengthy. He was reprimanded the same year of his hiring for calling a citizen “a fucking dumbass” at the scene of an arrest, according to his personnel file.
The deputy is not new to headlines, either. Guardian readers may remember his name from 2019 when a video surfaced online of Zirneskie serving suspended Pike County Sheriff Charles S. Reader with a civil subpoena. In the video, Reader used a curse word while the deputy was secretly recording the suspended Sheriff on a private cell phone. An internal investigation was launched, but the outcome has not been released by the Sheriff’s office.
In 2018, Zirneskie was cleared of wrongdoing after he shot and killed 35-year-old James M. Burks, of Peebles while on duty. A press release in 2018 from the prosecutor’s office said that the deputy tried to pull over Burks when a fight between Zirneskie and the man broke out.
“Burks attacked Deputy Zerneskie (sic) multiple times rather than submit to an arrest,” the release read. “Deputy Zerneskie (sic) at one point shot Burks with his TASER, but it was ineffective. Burks continued to fight and resist, and the struggle culminated in Burks getting Deputy Zerneskie (sic) in a headlock and attempting to strangle and choke him.”
The release continues to read that Zirneskie felt himself losing consciousness, so he attempted to “drive stun” Burks by placing the TASER directly against the man, to no avail.
“At that point, the TASER having no effect upon Burks and Deputy Zerneskie (sic) feeling himself slip away, drew and discharged his duty weapon, a Glock Model 22 .40 caliber pistol, striking Burks with two (2) rounds,” the release read. A grand jury chose not to indict the deputy.
Before being hired in Pike County, Zirneskie was a reserve officer in a suburb of Cleveland.