The City of Lorain’s Board of Control unanimously passed a request from its law department to hire a special prosecutor to handle the case against Police Sgt. Kenneth Zapolski who was criminally charged in late September.
Zapolski, 51, of Lorain, has been a Lorain Police officer for nearly 30 years.
On Sept. 22, he was charged with domestic violence, assault and menacing by stalking, according to officials at the time. The department stated the charges were the result of “an off-duty incident,” according to a news release from the Lorain Police Department.
He has been placed on administrative leave pending an internal investigation and the resolution of the case.
At the board of control’s morning meeting Nov. 16, Mayor Jack Bradley and Safety Service Director Sanford Washington both voted in favor of the request.
The request includes a maximum expenditure of $2,500, Bradley said.
“We agreed it was a wise decision,” he said following the meeting.
A special prosecutor will be assigned the case to avoid any possible conflict of interest the city’s law department may have handling the case since the law department’s personnel may have had previous dealings with Zapolski during criminal proceedings on cases he was involved with, Bradley added.
Oberlin Law Director Sarah Emeka was suggested to fill the roll by Pat Riley, Lorain’s law director, which Bradley said he also agreed with.
“She’s a fine prosecutor. She’s very fair and I think it was a wise choice,” Bradley said of Emeka.
“She always seeks justice,” the mayor added.
Meanwhile, after Zapolski’s initial appearance in Lorain Municipal Court where he plead not guilty to the charges Sept. 22, the case has been parked.
A pretrial scheduled for Oct. 31 was continued, according to court records.
Zapolski is scheduled to appear for a pretrial before Judge Patrick Carroll on Dec. 5, records show. He bonded out of the Lorain County Jail shortly after he was brought in on Sept. 22, jail records stated.
The board of control also unanimously passed several requests for purchasing equipment for the city’s police force, Bradley said. Many of the requests stem from new officers coming on to the department to fill vacancies due to resignation, termination and retirement.
