ROSS COUNTY – A Ross County man has some serious charges after fighting several times with Ross County Deputies
In the report, Ross County Deputies report that on 5/02/23 they were called the Dollar General Store at 19520 US 50 regarding an unresponsive male behind the wheel of a pickup truck. When Deputies arrived they found a male who was passed out behind the wheel in a, “unnatural position” and did not appear to be breathing. When Deputies entered the vehicle the male identified as John Ritchhart woke when shook but was very confused and disoriented. The deputy reported that the man had pinpoint pupils.
After a few minutes, the man refused medical treatment, but Deputies administered a field sobriety test due to him possibly driving intoxicated. John failed the test and when the Deputies attempted to put him under arrest he started to run away. The report tells what happened next.
“I advised John he was under arrest and instructed him to place his hands behind his back. John pulled away from us and started running toward the truck’s driver side door. I tried to pin John against the truck so he could not enter it and kept giving him verbal commands to stop resisting. My body camera was knocked off my uniform and my radio was knocked onto a
different channel. John moved toward the driver’s door and I began delivering knee strikes to his upper left thigh area. I was able to escort John away from truck and onto the ground near the truck. I kept giving John verbal commands to stop resisting and put his hands behind his back. John instead kept his hands in front of him and laid on them. John also kept trying to get back onto his feet. I began striking John’s left thigh area while attempting to get on top of him and keep him from getting to his feet.
Dep. K. Adair deployed her Taser on John with no effect. I then got rolled onto my back and John was on top of me. John pushed off of me and began to stand up and turn away from me. I tried wrapping my legs around him and I also tried to kick his legs. John got to his feet and began running away from me. I drew and fired my Taser at John while I was still laying on my back. The first shot missed John but the second shot appeared to strike him and he fell to the ground several feet away from me. Dep. K. Adair got to John first and tried to get him to put his hands behind his back and cuff him. I got to John and tried to get his left arm out from under him. John refused to give us his arm. I attempted to drive stunned John’s left side but my Taser was ineffective. I then delivered several strikes to John’s left shoulder area as he kept his left hand under him. At this point, we had been actively struggling to control and arrest John for approximately three minutes. My knees and lower back were hurting and I was covered in Johns’s blood. It was also a mix of rain and sleet.
Witnesses saw what was going on and stopped to help us and immediately began trying to pull John’s left arm out from under him. I was struggling to control John’s head and right arm. Only with witness assistance were we able to get John’s arms behind his back and he was handcuffed. Together, the three of us moved John to a nearby grassy area. I went to get gloves for us and towels for John because his face and head were covered in blood. EMS responded to the scene to transport John to the ARMC ER.”
During the search of the car, drug paraphernalia, white residue, gree leafy material, and a container that was labeled “ICE” was found to contain 5 grams of methamphetamine and 11 Oxycodone pills.
The deputy reported that after taking the man to the hospital he had to return to the Sheriff’s office to wipe a large amount of blood off his person and equipment. Shortly afterward the hospital released John from care and the same deputy returned to the hospital to take him to jail, when he arrived John was now attempting to leave and had already fled his room. The Deputy found John by the check-in counter and when he attempted to place him under arrest the fight was on again. The deputy described the fight again.
About an hour later, I was advised John was being discharged. I proceeded immediately to the ER to take John into custody and transport him to jail. By the time I got to the ER, John had already fled his room and was walking through the ER waiting area. I made contact with him by the check-in counter. I advised John he was going to jail and instructed him to place his hands behind his back and submit to being handcuffed. John instead moved away from me and toward a restroom. I grabbed hold of John’s arm and tried to turn him away from me. John kept turning toward me, pushing me and pulling away. I tried to utilize my Taser again in drive stun mode but John grabbed my hand holding the Taser and forced my Taser to aim at the floor. At one point, John grabbed me by the throat with one of his hands. I felt like I may loose my grip on the Taser, so I began kicking John while we were both standing and struggling over the Taser. I was able to level the Taser at John’s stomach and fire a cartridge almost point blank into his abdomen. The Taser did not incapacitate or stop John and I had to kick him in the legs several more times to get John to release his grip on the Taser. Adena Security staff and I got John onto the floor on his stomach. John still refused to place his arms behind his back and kept struggling to get up. We eventually got John into handcuffs placed behind his back. John’s face and head were again covered in blood. I was again covered in John’s blood. We escorted John back to an ER room for treatment.
Several hours later learned that John was successfully transported to jail and booked. John, 51 was charged with two counts of persisting disorderly conduct, one misdemeanor count of resisting arrest and one felony count of resisting arrest, one count of felony obstructing official business, one count of possession of drug paraphernalia and a felony assault on a peace officer.
