One year after an Akron police officer fired 15 shots at him outside an Ellet bar — hitting him eight times, including twice in the chest, even though he had no gun — Corey Phillips has filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Akron and the officer, Caleb Bodjanac, accusing them of excessive force and of failing to stop a pattern of misconduct.

The lawsuit, filed November 10

The lawsuit was filed on November 10, 2026, by the Cleveland-based law firm FG+G, Signal Akron reported. It alleges that Bodjanac's actions were unconstitutional and violated Phillips' Fourth Amendment right “to be free from the use of unreasonable and excessive force.” These are allegations in a civil filing; neither the officer nor the city has been found liable, and the City of Akron's spokesperson declined to comment on the lawsuit.

The filing also names the city itself. It alleges Akron is liable for not properly training officers on interacting with intoxicated people and for not holding officers accountable for constitutional violations — practices the suit says were so well-settled as to amount to a de facto policy of the city and its officials. Two further claims rest on state law: a “reckless breach of duty” claim against Bodjanac and state assault and battery claims. The lawsuit attaches no dollar figure; it asks for a trial at which damages would be established.

What happened outside Karam's Lounge on November 11, 2025

On the night of November 11, 2025, a bartender at Karam's Lounge, in the 2700 block of Albrecht Avenue in Akron's Ellet neighbourhood, made a frantic 911 call reporting that Phillips — who had been kicked out of the bar — had a gun and was threatening people in the bar and the plaza parking lot. Signal Akron's earlier reporting noted that a man can be heard on the call saying Phillips did not have a gun. In the end, no witness had actually seen one, and no gun was ever found on Phillips or at the scene; Akron police now say he did not have a gun, and Mayor Shammas Malik confirmed in a statement days later that Phillips was not armed.

Bodjanac was the first officer to arrive, at about 9:14 p.m. Body-camera footage shows him drawing his pistol and ordering Phillips to get his hands out of his pockets and then to get on the ground. Phillips, who appeared confused, raised his hands and rubbed his chest — and 22 seconds after the officer arrived, Bodjanac opened fire with his Glock 45, firing 15 rounds and hitting Phillips eight times, twice in the chest. Phillips told officers at the scene that he never had a gun as he was handcuffed and given first aid.

Survival, investigation and a grand jury's decision

Phillips, an electrician and father of six who is now 37, survived after extensive emergency surgery at Summa Health on his liver, intestines and arms. Photographs of his clothing obtained by Signal Akron from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) — the state agency the Akron Police Department brings in to investigate its own officers' shootings — show 14 evidence stickers next to suspected bullet holes in his jacket, though a single bullet can make more than one hole.

Bodjanac was placed on paid administrative leave under department policy while the BCI investigated. State prosecutors presented the BCI's evidence to a Summit County grand jury, which in June 2026 declined to indict him. Signal Akron notes that officers face a higher threshold for on-duty charges than civilians, and that U.S. Supreme Court precedent requires police shootings to be judged on what the officer believed in the moment, not on information learned afterward. The police union, Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #7, said at the time that officers “encountered an uncooperative individual and were forced to make a split-second decision,” pointing to the initial citizen reports that Phillips was armed.

The officer's record is now part of the case

The lawsuit lands on a record that was already public. Signal Akron previously reported that in the 11 months between joining the Akron Police Department in December 2024 and the Phillips shooting, Bodjanac was involved in at least 13 use-of-force incidents. In one, in March 2025 at a North Hill store, supervisors found his “rear body lock takedown” of an unarmed man within policy, but a deputy chief had him reprimanded for poor judgment and failure to de-escalate in the lead-up; the city's independent police auditor, Anthony Finnell, filed his review of that incident on November 10, 2025 — one day before the Karam's Lounge shooting — concluding the response contravened established constitutional norms. State records show Bodjanac still works for the Akron Police Department. Phillips' attorney did not immediately respond to Signal Akron's question about his current condition.

Why Akron is sensitive ground for this fight

Akron has been here before. The 2022 police killing of Jayland Walker led to citywide protests and mass arrests, no indictments and no departmental discipline for the officers involved, and a $4.8 million civil-rights settlement between Walker's family and the city. Against that background, the Phillips suit is not only about one night in Ellet: its claim that training and accountability failures were a de facto city policy asks a federal court to judge the department's system, not only one officer's 22 seconds.

What happens next

The case now moves into federal court process: the city and the officer will answer the complaint, and both sides will exchange evidence, including the body-camera footage, the BCI file and the officer's use-of-force history that Signal Akron has already partly published. Because a grand jury has already declined criminal charges, the civil case — with its lower burden of proof — is the remaining forum in which Phillips' account will be tested. No hearing dates had been announced in the initial reporting.