When Powell police were called to her home in October 2015, Courtney Smith outlined a history of violent acts — choking, physical abuse and death threats — that she says had long made her fear for her life at the hands of her soon-to-be ex-husband.
Smith told Officer Ben Boruchowitz that she was making the report on Oct. 26, 2015, because Zach Smith, then an Ohio State assistant football coach, had come to her Powell condominium the night before and started verbally abusing her, then pushed her into a wall and took their young son with him against her objections.
That account is contained in the narrative of a police incident report mailed anonymously to The Dispatch. Made aware of the mailing and the contents of the report Wednesday, Powell Police Chief Gary Vest did not dispute it.
Boruchowitz wrote that Courtney Smith told him Ohio State sent a lawyer to her home in connection with a previous incident, “convincing her to drop the charge because it would embarrass OSU if she proceeded with the prosecution.”
Chris Davey, OSU spokesman, told The Dispatch on Wednesday night that the university was unaware of any such allegation and would investigate.
According to the report, Courtney Smith also told Boruchowitz that Zach Smith had abused her for years, and she described multiple incidents. Smith was fired July 23 by Ohio State coach Urban Meyer after his ex-wife obtained a protection order.
“The victim states that last year, the suspect choked her until she could not breathe,” the narrative report said. “The victim states that the suspect tells her all the time that he will kill her.”
The one-page narrative details several other incidents, including in October 2014 when she claimed Zach Smith “cut her hand open with a tin can causing significant bleeding.” She showed Boruchowitz photographs that she said were from the attack. In January 2015, she said, Smith “threw her into a wooden stair causing significant bruising and swelling.” Boruchowitz was again shown photographs Courtney Smith said were from the incident, according to the report.
And while in the Dominican Republic in 2014, the report said, Zach Smith grabbed her around the neck and lifted her off the ground before throwing her on the bed. She told Boruchowitz that she could not keep track of all the incidents and noted that many happened in the presence of their small children.
According to the incident report, Courtney Smith reported that much of the abuse stemmed from her husband’s anger over her suspicions that he cheated on her with other women.
Vest has said that the full investigation file contains information that would explain or dispute allegations by Courtney Smith. The city has refused, however,
to release the file.
Vest said police had turned the case over to the Delaware County prosecutor for felony charges. Those were never filed.
Brad Koffel, Zach Smith’s attorney, said Smith returned from a recruiting trip in November 2015, “answering every question police asked.”
The case, he said, was reviewed by prosecutors and “everyone can draw their own conclusion why charges weren’t filed.”
“At some point in time, the exculpatory evidence outweighed the incriminating allegations,” Koffel said.
If investigators determined that the case did not warrant charges, whether felony or misdemeanor, that should be explained, said Nancy Neylon, executive director of the Ohio Domestic Violence Network. “It would look better if they said, ‘We did an investigation and we didn’t think there was enough information to go forward.’”
But, Neylon said, the report is concerning and contains numerous warning signs and red flags that point to an escalating and dangerous situation.
“Really, hearing that makes me fear for her even now,” Neylon said of the report. “I literally have chills.”
Police receive training on how to handle domestic-violence incidents and should work to assess the risk of harm, she said.
“They’re looking for probable cause to make an arrest. In this state, there’s a preferred course of action,” Neylon said. “They should be looking at the totality of what’s happened. And if they’ve been called more than once, they know there’s a history.”
