CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — A traffic ticket issued to Derek Myers, the publisher and editor-in-chief of the Guardian was effectively dismissed this week when he won a motion to suppress, revealing a series of controversies around a traffic stop that had occurred in July.
The incident traces back to the night of July 6 when Myers was allegedly covering a high-speed chase that began in Pickaway County. While allegedly driving to the scene for the news story, Myers found himself pulled over by the Chillicothe Police Department on route 23 near Adena Hospital.
What allegedly ensued was a series of exchanges between Myers and Sergeants Brock Yoder and Micah Shanks of the Chillicothe Police Department. The officers’ claims revolved around Myers allegedly speeding and not yielding to an emergency vehicle on the highway. However, Myers allegedly promptly contested during the stop, highlighting that he had indeed moved to the left to allow the patrol car to pass him. A highlight of the altercation was Myers’ alleged keen observation about the Chillicothe officers operating out of their jurisdiction by several miles. This led to immediate backup calls from Yoder to the Sheriff’s office and the Highway Patrol. When the Sheriff’s office arrived, a deputy cited Myers for “reckless operation” based on the words of the sergeants.
The veracity of the allegations became even more questionable when it was discovered that neither Yoder nor Shanks possessed body cams, cruiser dash cams, or speed radars. Their ticket was solely based on their statements, which, as evidence would later reveal, were not entirely truthful.
A significant twist to the saga was Yoder’s claim that the Highway Patrol had requested Chillicothe’s support in the initial pursuit that all three men were driving towards. However, Myers’ legal team, comprising of Chillicothe-based lawyers Michael Warren and Aaron McHenry, collected solid evidence contradicting Yoder’s claim. Subpoenas were issued to troopers at the Highway Patrol, including the dispatcher who was working that night. The legal team also obtained radio traffic from the night in question and spoke with the Lieutenant who oversees the local patrol post. The troopers, the Lieutenant in charge of the troopers, and the dispatcher all admitted that they did not request Chillicothe’s involvement, meaning the officers had gone rogue and lied in their official police reports by saying they were only in the area and encountered Myers because “the Highway Patrol requested our assistance.”
In addition, security camera video from buildings along route 23 were obtained by Myers’ legal team, which showed he was not impeding officers and indeed, pulled over to let emergency vehicles drive by. After delving deep, it became apparent that the Chillicothe officers were not truthful and had acted on their own, effectively rendering their actions to those of “private citizens” while outside of their city; in direct stance with an Ohio Supreme Court ruling that says officers who do such acts are stripped of their badges and are nothing more than “merely private citizens conducting an illegal stop.”
Subpoenas were also issued to Yoder’s wife and a female police officer co-worker after it was learned that Yoder might have lied during an internal affairs investigation about infidelity. Yoder, who was an officer at the time of an investigation was alleged to have been having an affair with a female officer. It was alleged that when caught with the woman at home by his wife, he lied to his bosses during an investigation over the incident, saying it did not happen. The testimony from the two women were to further prove that Yoder has a history of being untruthful, not just in his police reports, but also in internal affairs investigations and life, in general. Recent paperwork obtained from internal affairs investigations this week show that the affair is rumored to still be going on.
Judge John B. Street ruled in favor of Myers this week, taking cognizance of past Ohio Supreme Court decisions and the current traffic laws of Ohio. The Supreme Court of Ohio has ruled in several cases that officers who conduct “extraterritorial traffic stops” outside of their jurisdiction are nothing more than private citizens and thus, have violated Ohio’s 14th Constitutional Right and the United States’ Fourth Amendment of “unreasonable search and seizure.” Myers is now considering filing a federal civil rights lawsuit against the police department and pursuing criminal charges of “unlawful restraint” against the officers involved.
This legal victory adds to a series of triumphs for Myers. In 2022, he revolutionized Ohio’s transparency standards concerning police reports in a case titled Myers v. Meyers. This achievement mandated more transparency from law enforcement agencies concerning public records when he successfully sued the Chillicothe Police Department. Another significant victory was against former Pike County Judge Randy Deering during George Wagner, IV’s high-profile murder trial in two separate wins for courtroom access.
It appears Myers’ battle for justice and transparency is far from over. He is currently gearing up for a potential multi-million dollar lawsuit against Pike County officials after trumped-up felony wiretapping charges were filed and subsequently dismissed against him, in addition to having his news equipment illegally seized in a raid in an attempt to find out the journalist’s sources.