Last summer's violent brawl inside a Lorain County courtroom was so brutal it sent a brand-new deputy away with four fractured ribs and a cracked sternum. Now the sheriff's office is rolling out a remote-controlled restraint it hopes will stop anything like that from happening again.
The device, called the Band-It, is a sleeve that officials say can deliver a short, high-voltage electrical pulse to a detainee. It will be used only on inmates flagged as safety risks during pre-court screenings. Sheriff Jack Hall says the move is about protecting court staff, jurors and officers while keeping some semblance of order when tempers flare in front of the bench.
New Shock Sleeve Hits Lorain County Courts
Hall told reporters that the Lorain County Sheriff's Office has purchased the Band-It and will use it in select cases after risk assessments. As reported by Cleveland 19, the wireless sleeve is worn by an inmate and, according to sheriff's office descriptions, delivers both high and low electrical frequencies, tops out at about 50,000 volts, and can be triggered remotely after an audible warning for an eight-second pulse.
In other words, it is a jolt on standby, controlled from a distance, and meant to give deputies one more option when a situation suddenly turns ugly.
How The Courtroom Fight Exploded
The decision to bring in the Band-It traces back to a June 12, 2025 sentencing hearing that erupted into chaos. Defendant Andrew Davison had just been sentenced on a prior attempted-murder conviction when he lunged at officers, touching off a frantic struggle in the courtroom.
"They came down on my chest, and I had a cracked sternum and four fractured ribs," Deputy Jeff Smith told Cleveland 19, describing the aftermath of the melee.
Davison was later convicted on multiple counts of assault on law-enforcement officers and, according to the Chronicle-Telegram, received an additional 39 to 44½ years behind bars.
How Court Security Is Supposed To Work
The sheriff's Court Services Unit is the crew charged with making sure scenes like that do not become a regular feature on the docket. The unit handles inmate transport and security at the judicial center, oversees holding cells, and supervises deputies assigned to courtroom duty.
The Lorain County Sheriff's Office says Court Services deputies coordinate inmate movements from a control room and respond to any disturbances that break out during court proceedings. The county describes the unit as the on-scene hub for prisoner movement and courtroom safety planning, essentially the traffic control tower for everyone in cuffs.
Legal Fallout
For Davison, the courtroom brawl came with a steep legal price. He was found guilty of three counts of assault on law-enforcement officers and sentenced to an indefinite term of 39 to 44½ years, according to court records cited by the Chronicle-Telegram. The June hearing that turned violent dealt with an attempted-murder case for which he had already received a prison term, and the new sentence runs consecutively.
The incident, along with the department's decision to purchase the Band-It, has renewed attention on how Lorain County handles courtroom security and when, exactly, high-tech restraints should be brought into the mix.
