HAMILTON, Ohio — A Hamilton police sergeant will not face criminal charges for his use of force during the arrest of a man in Marcum Park, after a Butler County grand jury declined to indict him, Butler County Prosecutor Mike Gmoser told FOX19 NOW on Monday. “The use of force was cleared by the grand jury,” Gmoser said, declining further comment.

The decision closes the criminal review of an arrest that happened on June 25, 2025, in the park along the Great Miami River, when the sergeant arrested Robert Thomas, 55, of Hamilton, after finding him in the park after hours. Thomas's attorney, Will Oswall, has said police body-camera footage showed the sergeant striking his client 41 times with a baton, and that Thomas needed stitches in his head and was left with scars — the allegation at the centre of the case the grand jury has now rejected.

Source: WXIX FOX19 NOW (Nov. 9, 2026)

How the case reached a grand jury

The Ohio Attorney General's Special Prosecutions Section presented the facts to the Butler County grand jury after a review by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation's Force Investigations Unit. Gmoser's office had requested the state investigation after conferring with Hamilton police and the Attorney General's office, taking the decision out of local hands. The sergeant, Thomas and several other witnesses — including a civilian who helped the sergeant during the arrest — testified before the grand jury last Thursday. “The grand jury met for approximately six hours… and at the conclusion, the grand jury didn't find any unreasonable use of force,” the sergeant's attorney, Stew Mathews, said.

Hamilton Assistant Police Chief Brian Robinson said: “We respect the grand jury's decision not to indict and thank the Attorney General's Office and BCI for their thorough and independent investigation.” FOX19 NOW has never named the sergeant, a 10-year Hamilton police veteran, because he has not been charged with a crime. He remained on active duty throughout the state review, and Mathews said his personnel file shows 'above expected' and 'outstanding' performance ratings and several commendations dating back to 2016, with not one single complaint or reprimand. A Hamilton police supervisor had previously reviewed the same use of force internally and determined it was “reasonable,” police records show.

The night in Marcum Park, as the reports tell it

Police knew Thomas before that night. He had been placed on community control for two years in fall 2024 and ordered to stay away from Marcum Park and Spooky Nook, city court records show, and he had been cited for criminal trespassing in the park just days earlier, on June 19, 2025. Mathews said Hamilton police were under orders to arrest Thomas if they saw him in the park again while it was closed. According to the arrest report, the sergeant found Thomas sitting on a bench after hours, told him the park was closed and said he was under arrest for trespassing.

What followed is set out in the police report. When the sergeant grabbed Thomas's right hand and ordered him to put his hands behind his back, Thomas allegedly pulled away and yelled, “Get off me!” He was warned he would be tased, and the sergeant deployed a Taser to his midsection when he continued to resist. Thomas then allegedly punched the sergeant in the face, was thrown to the ground, and kicked at the sergeant repeatedly while being struck with a baton and ordered to put his hands behind his back; the report says he grabbed the sergeant's left leg and tried to wrap up his legs before he was finally handcuffed. A civilian passing on a bicycle stopped and helped pull Thomas off the sergeant — a part of the encounter Mathews noted is not on the body-camera footage. Thomas suffered lacerations to his head and left arm and swelling in his left hand, and officers reported finding a burnt glass meth pipe with residue during a search. He was taken to Fort Hamilton Hospital, where, according to the use-of-force review, he told officers he was “trying to get the police off of him by kicking.”

Thomas's own charges will not come back

Thomas's side of the case ended in two stages. A Butler County grand jury had indicted him on a felony assault charge and misdemeanours — resisting arrest, criminal trespass and possession of drug paraphernalia. He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity and a judge ordered a mental evaluation. Then in July, a judge dismissed all the charges at Gmoser's request and “in the interest of justice” — but the dismissal was without prejudice, leaving the door open to refiling. On Monday, Gmoser closed that door: after reviewing the grand jury's findings and “all pertinent evidence in this case,” the charges will not be refiled. Oswall called that decision “appropriate” and said the prosecutor “made the right call.”

The second Hamilton case in a year

The sergeant is the second Hamilton officer in the past year whose use of force was reviewed by BCI at the prosecutor's request and ultimately cleared. In the other case, Officer Stephen Heffernan was acquitted at a bench trial of four misdemeanour assault counts over an incident involving a handcuffed suspect, Michael Yordy, in the police booking room; an internal investigation had found Heffernan used unnecessary force, he served a 20-day suspension and a list of other requirements before returning to duty, the city paid Yordy $10,000 to release his claims, and in September Yordy filed a federal civil-rights lawsuit alleging excessive force. Police patrols in Marcum Park have not been altered in any way, the department said.

What happens next

For the sergeant, the criminal question is over: Mathews said “he's pleased the criminal aspect of this is over,” and he stays on active duty. For Thomas, Monday's confirmation means the June 2025 arrest will produce no criminal case against either man — his charges are dismissed for good, and the force used on him has been ruled, by a grand jury that heard both men testify, not to be a crime. Whether Thomas pursues a civil claim, as Yordy did in the other Hamilton case, has not been announced; Oswall has not said. The body-camera video that both sides argued over remains the central public record of what happened on the bench in Marcum Park that night.