By Mark Gokavi
Dayton Daily News
XENIA, Ohio — A former standout Greenon High School wrestler pleaded guilty to attempted felonious assault on a peace officer and was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison.
Josh Schell, 22, of Enon, was captured on film fighting a Greene County sheriff’s deputy during a traffic stop Oct. 1. As part of the plea agreement in Greene County Common Pleas Court, a drunken-driving charge was dropped and a first-degree felony was dropped to second-degree.
Dashboard camera video released last fall showed Schell fighting with Deputy Josh Barrett, who at the time was an 11-year agency veteran who had been assigned to road patrol the past couple of years. After the struggle, the video shows Barrett hit Schell with his TASER six times.
“This case was particularly egregious because the officer was caught totally off guard,” said Jeffrey Hunter, chief trial counsel for the Greene County Prosecutor’s Office. “He ran into somebody who he thought was in physical distress and needed help and attempted to help that individual. The last thing he expected was the person he was trying to help to attack him.”
Schell did not comment during Thursday’s hearing in front of Judge Stephen A. Wolaver.
Sheriff Gene Fischer said that at 12:17 a.m. Oct. 1, Barrett approached Schell’s red 2001 Pontiac Sunfire parked next to a field along Wilberforce-Clifton Road between Tar-box Cemetery Road and Harbison Road.
Fischer said Barrett called for an ambulance and backup patrol after he saw the motorist unresponsive inside the car.
The video showed Barrett tried for several minutes to awaken Schell. After Schell became conscious, the video showed him struggling with Barrett inside his car.
The pair then tumbled onto the road and wrestled as Schell struck Barrett with a few punches. Eventually, the men rose to their feet, and as Schell stood by his car, Barrett deployed the TASER into Schell and repeatedly hit the trigger.
Documents said that Schell later told deputies that he was angry with Barrett because he recognized him from the Greene County Jail, where Barrett previously worked as a corrections officer. Schell had been at the jail after being arrested for a misdemeanor in 2009.
“It sends a message to the public, at least in Greene County, that the Greene County Sheriff’s Office is not going to tolerate anyone attacking their police officers,” Hunter said of the sentence.
Hunter said Barrett has recovered and is getting back into a regular work shift.
In 2007, Schell won two matches at the Ohio Division II state wrestling tournament and finished eighth in the 130-pound division, according to Greenon’s wrestling and the Ohio High School Athletic Association websites. He had a 37-3 record that season. He was also a 2008 state qualifier, though he did not place.
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