Investigation Into Alleged Police Brutality In West Chester

WEST CHESTER, Ohio -- A case of police brutality? Or were officers just doing their jobs? A Tri-State police chief is now investigating exactly how a man was left bruised after a run-in with cops at a West Chester bar.
News 5 dug up police reports and call for service to Win, Place or Show Sports Bar. During the early morning hours of May 6, a patron had an incident with police.
It was closing time at a West Chester bar. The manager, who was not there, called 911 after a concerned bartender contacted him.
"You know, they're all threatening that they're going to come. They're going to hurt people. They're going to beat people's *****. They're going to shoot people," the bar manager said in his call to emergency services.
"At this time, we got some information to tell us this could be worse than the normal call," said West Chester police chief Erik Niehaus.
As police arrived, Jeremy Lewis, 29, who admits he was drinking heavily, was walking out the back door. He didn't get far.
"I tried to count, and they were swinging so fast, I couldn't keep up with them," Lewis said.
Lewis said he was beaten not by fellow patrons but by police officers. He claimed they also used pepper spray.
"They got me down on the ground and they started to beat me with the batons," Lewis said. "It was over and over and over."
His injuries, now a week old, include cuts and bruises to his legs, hands and arms.
Kris Lorenz witnessed the tail end of the incident.
"Jeremy was basically laying there, lifeless," Lorenz said.
Witnesses said a surveillance camera was rolling the entire time.
"I think looking at the video alone is not fair," Niehaus said.
Niehaus would not show it to News 5. He said it is part of their investigation. What you can't hear on the video, he said, is that a bartender named Lewis as one of the so-called trouble makers and that Lewis refused to listen to police orders.
"As soon as he went onto the ground, he began to kick and punch at the officers," Niehaus said.
Niehaus said Lewis continued to resist arrest. His officers struck him for nine straight seconds, he said, until they got him under control.
"Yeah, there was forced used, and it's one of those things that nobody's proud of, but at the end of the day, they felt like they did what they had to do," Niehaus said.
"When I spent the four days in jail, I was starting to think I did something wrong, and then when I saw the video, I know I didn't do anything wrong," Lewis said.
Niehaus said he is conducting an internal review of the incident but the preliminary investigation shows officers complied with procedure.
Lewis was charged with three counts of assault on a police officer and resisting arrest.