Portage County deputy convicted of felony after 2024 altercation

A Portage County Sheriff’s deputy pleaded guilty to a fourth-degree felony charge of attempted abduction related to an April 2024 altercation outside a Hinckley bar.

During the late-night incident, Daniel Lajack and a fellow police officer, who were both off duty, forced a man outside the bar, where the friend put the man in a leglock on the ground. At the time, Lajack was a special agent with the Lake County Narcotics Agency.

Body cameras captured Lajack explaining why he detained the man. "This guy's not from this country, so we started fighting with him," Lajack told police who responded to the incident.

Lajack was initially indicted Aug. 26, 2025, with two third-degree felony counts of abduction, a fifth-degree felony charge of ethnic intimidation and a first-degree misdemeanor charge of assault. 

On Feb. 9, he pled guilty to a fourth-degree felony charge of attempted abduction in Medina County Common Pleas Court. Sentencing is set for March 26.

In December 2024, Lajack resigned from the Lake County Narcotics Agency, shortly after being ordered to appear at a Nov. 21 predisciplinary hearing meant to terminate his employment.

He was then hired by the Portage County Sheriff’s Office on Dec. 17, 2024. According to his personnel file, Lajack was assigned to the PCSO’s Drug and Violent Crime Unit. He was advised to report for work as a deputy on Dec. 23 and told his hourly starting pay would be $30.61.

When the story first broke, The Portager reached out to Portage County Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski, who did not respond directly to The Portager’s request for comment. His administrative assistant, Susan Schlarb, stated in writing that the PCSO was aware of the incidents that triggered the internal investigation into Lajack and his ultimate resignation from LCNA, but “we weighed out the circumstances and made an informed decision.”

Asked for examples of behavior that would disqualify someone from employment at the PCSO, and asked specifically if Lajack's record would qualify as such an example, Schlarb responded, “This is considered on a case-by-case basis.”

She stated that Lajack was spoken highly of by his previous employers, who also endorsed his hiring at the PCSO.

The barroom incident

Body cam footage of police who were called to the April 26 scene shows Lajack and his friend denying that there was any disturbance, even as the friend held the man in a continued leglock. 

The footage shows Lajack and his friend repeatedly insisting that the man, whom they said was from Israel, was in the country illegally and might be on some sort of watchlist. The friend said the man picked a fight with him when he tried to stop him from leaving the bar. 

When police questioned the man, the video shows him saying he was an American citizen who lived in Texas. Originally from the East African country of Eritrea, a totalitarian dictatorship, he said he made his living as a truck driver. A check of the man’s driver’s license came back clean.

Responding police said the man was in town to deliver goods to an area warehouse.

On the video, Lajack continued to insist that the man was a potential terrorist, and that he didn’t want to be responsible for letting someone who might carry out a terrorist attack go free.

“He’s from Israel. That’s terrorist,” he says.

The video shows Lajack arguing with police when they tell him he wasn’t on duty and should have called them rather than attempting to handle anything themselves. The police make the point that they were sober, while Lajack was not. Lajack repeats his belief that something wasn’t right about the scenario.

In the video, a responding officer is heard saying the two are drunk, and their allegations don't seem “sane.”

Lajack’s case had been transferred to federal court in Michigan, but Medina County Prosecutor S. Forrest Thompson reportedly reasserted control after federal prosecutors declined to file charges.