Tyler Dunlap, a former officer with the Lima Police Department, was sentenced Tuesday in Auglaize County Municipal Court to 180 days in jail and five years of supervised probation for assault, resisting arrest and obstructing official business last summer in Wapakoneta.
J Swygart | The Lima News
WAPAKONETA — The apology of a former Lima police officer fell on mostly deaf ears Tuesday in Auglaize County Municipal Court when Judge Andrew Augsburger sentenced the man to 180 days in jail and five years of supervised community control sanctions.
Tyler Dunlap pleaded guilty last month to three misdemeanor charges related to his interference with a Wapakoneta police officer during an incident last summer.
As part of a negotiated settlement with prosecutors, Dunlap pleaded guilty to charges of assault, resisting arrest and obstructing official business that stemmed from the June 2022 incident. A fourth-degree felony charge of assault that was pending in Auglaize County Common Pleas Court was dismissed as part of the deal.
Dunlap, 29, and a female acquaintance, Veronica Sepulveda, 36, of Napoleon, were arrested after police and emergency medical personnel were dispatched to a residence in Wapakoneta on June 19, 2022. A head injury suffered by Sepulveda prompted the 911 call, according to police reports.
Footage from the police body camera of Wapakoneta Police Department Lt. Shannon Place shows Sepulveda fainting as medics tend to her head wound. Moments later Sepulveda and Dunlap are seen sitting on the ground together, with Dunlap apparently propping up the woman.
Place is shown on the video as she tried to coax Dunlap to leave the area so medics could work uninterrupted, but the situation escalated when a seemingly confused and intoxicated Dunlap sat back down with Sepulveda.
Place pointed her taser at Dunlap but he continued to ignore orders from the officer. Sepulveda then rushed toward Dunlap, at which time Place turned and pointed her taser toward Sepulveda. “You need to get the (expletive) off me too,” the officer tells the woman.
Dunlap was eventually handcuffed and placed in a police cruiser. The camera captures Place looking at her left hand several times after handcuffing and escorting Dunlap to a police cruiser. In one exchange, Place complains to another officer that she might have broken her finger. She went on light duty for seven weeks after the incident due to her apparent injury.
Attorney Zach Maisch, representing Dunlap, said the former LPD officer “is a good kid who made some bad decisions.”
“This incident forced him to look into the mirror regarding his relationship with alcohol,” Maisch told the judge. “Tyler has not had a drink of alcohol since” the day of the incident.
“I apologize to everybody involved. I have taken a lot of lessons from this and think I’ve become a better person for it,” Dunlap told the judge.
Augsburger, however, said he was unconvinced that Dunlap showed the appropriate level of remorse for his actions. He imposed 180-day jail sentenced on each of the three counts, a total of 540 days, and suspended all but one of the sentences. Dunlap was ordered to report to the Auglaize County jail on March 10.
He was fined $100 on each count and was ordered not to possess or consume any alcohol or drugs and to obtain alcohol abuse and anger management assessments.
Dunlap was placed on paid administrative leave by the LPD on June 20 and resigned in late December. He is currently unemployed.
Sepulveda, who was also employed by the Lima Police Department at the time of the incident, resigned from the department on June 24. She has a trial date next month in Auglaize County Municipal Court.
