Athens Police Officer Ethan James Doerr’s Repeated Taser Incidents Raise More Questions About APD Oversight.
Athens Police Department officer Ethan James Doerr has become the focus of repeated public criticism after multiple use-of-force incidents, including cases where people were reportedly fleeing or trying to leave when Doerr used a Taser or physical force.
The most recent widely reported incident happened on February 19, 2023, when Doerr tased a 19-year-old Ohio University student outside Goodfella’s Pizza in Uptown Athens. According to the Athens County Independent, body-camera footage showed the student pulling away and running before Doerr warned him and then fired a Taser into his back, causing him to fall forward onto his stomach.
The student was initially charged with underage drinking, obstructing official business, and disorderly conduct. According to the same report, the underage drinking and obstruction charges were later dismissed, and the student pleaded no contest to an amended persistent disorderly conduct charge.
A Pattern of Force Complaints
The February 2023 incident was not the first time Doerr’s name appeared in connection with excessive-force allegations. In 2019, Doerr was one of the Athens officers involved in the arrest of University of Cincinnati student Ty Bealer outside The J Bar on Court Street. The student newspaper The News Record reported that Athens Police Chief Tom Pyle identified the officers involved as Ethan Doerr, Andrew Jacob Spear, and Dustin Wesselhoeft after video of the arrest drew criticism.
That video reportedly showed three officers holding Bealer down, with witnesses questioning the level of force being used. The department defended the officers at the time, with Pyle saying the use of force was reasonable, restrained, and within policy, while also denying claims that the wrong person had been arrested.
Doerr had also been named in a federal lawsuit filed by Ohio University student Jacob Francis. In Francis v. City of Athens, Francis sued the City of Athens and Officer Doerr under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging excessive force, along with a state-law battery claim. The court opinion states that Doerr tased Francis in April 2018 and that Francis fell down three stairs, hit his head on a brick wall, and suffered serious injuries. The federal court ultimately granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants.
Use of Force While People Were Leaving
One of the most troubling parts of the public record is the recurring theme that people subjected to Doerr’s force were allegedly trying to leave or flee. The Athens County Independent reported that in the 2018 Francis case, the 2019 Bealer incident, and the 2023 Goodfella’s Pizza incident, the person on the receiving end of Doerr’s force was attempting to leave the scene.
The same report also stated that records released by the now-defunct Athens County Copwatch showed Doerr had the most Taser deployments of any Athens Police Department officer between 2015 and 2020. According to the Athens County Independent, Doerr had six Taser deployments during that period, while three other officers followed with four each.
The report also described additional incidents involving Doerr’s use of force, including a February 2019 incident where a 19-year-old running from a fight was tased in the back and then drive-stunned, and a December 2019 incident where Doerr allegedly deployed his Taser twice while trying to handcuff a man who had run from him.
Why This Matters
Police officers are often placed in unpredictable situations, but repeated Taser use against people accused of minor offenses or people attempting to leave raises serious questions about judgment, escalation, and department oversight. Tasers are marketed as less-lethal tools, but they can still cause serious injury, especially when a person falls uncontrollably after being shocked.
Doerr has not been criminally convicted based on the incidents described above, and at least one federal lawsuit against him was dismissed on summary judgment. However, the repeated allegations, lawsuits, public criticism, and documented use-of-force history make this a legitimate public accountability issue for Athens residents, Ohio University students, and anyone concerned about policing in college towns.
The bigger question is not only whether Ethan Doerr personally used poor judgment, but whether the Athens Police Department properly reviewed repeated force incidents and took public concerns seriously. When the same officer’s name appears again and again in Taser-related controversies, the public has every right to ask whether the department is protecting the community — or protecting its own.
