Video: Suspect yelled for 'help' before stabbing Ohio officer

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Body camera footage was released Tuesday from a stabbing that left a Mifflin Township police officer seriously injured.

The video shows 36-year-old Bryan Benjamin attacking the officer, who responded to a Sunday evening report of a suspicious person with a disabled vehicle in the Framingham neighborhood Sunday evening.

In the released video timestamped around 7:45 p.m., the officer attempts to help Benjamin with his vehicle, which was stopped on the side of the road in the 2900 block of Perdue Avenue. The officer asks Benjamin for his identification a few times and to stop attempting to push the vehicle further.

Benjamin was heard saying "This is my car" and "Sir, "I'm just going down the street."

"I understand that, but you just need to stop for just a minute and then I'll help you out," the officer responded.

Benjamin did not address the officer and began yelling, "help" at cars passing by. The officer warned Benjamin that he would get tased or handcuffed for not cooperating.

Benjamin says to the officer, "Get away from me, you don't have a right, get away from me," while the officer continues to ask for his name. Benjamin backpedals from the officer, then lunges at him.

Mifflin Township police said Benjamin reportedly resisted the officer and a struggle ensued, during which the suspect stabbed the officer multiple times in the head with a homemade knife.

The officer, who deployed his taser on Benjamin, suffered serious injuries and was taken to Grant Medical Center, where he remained in recovery as of Tuesday. At the original scene, Benjamin allegedly attacked a Clinton Township officer who was responding to an officer in trouble call. He was ultimately arrested and charged with felonious assault.

Multiple police vehicles including from Columbus and the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office responded to the scene. A silver Ford vehicle was surrounded by police evidence markers. The car appeared to have a pair of jumper cables sticking out from under the hood, and the driver’s door was open.

Prosecuting attorneys asked a Franklin County Municipal judge to hold Benjamin without bail until the injured detective could provide testimony in the case. A $500,000 bond was ordered and the judge scheduled a preliminary hearing for Feb. 28.

Benjamin's history of assault and resisting arrest dates as far back as 2014, when he was charged in Richland County for assaulting a peace officer. He pleaded guilty to two counts of assaulting an officer, harassment with a bodily substance, felonious assault, and obstructing official business. He was sentenced to two years in prison.

Three years later, also in Richland County, Benjamin was charged with assault and falsification. He was ordered to undergo "restoration" at the Heartland Behavioral Healthcare Systems in Massillon, Ohio.

He later pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, but was deemed competent to stand trial after a medical examination. A judge issued him a five-year probation, which was amended one year later to a two-year probation period.

In 2022 Benjamin was charged with two counts of assault and one count each of criminal damaging and resisting arrest. All charges were dismissed in Franklin County Municipal Court due to mental incompetence.

Prior to that, Benjamin also was charged in Franklin County with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest twice within a week in 2010. Three of four charges were dismissed and he paid a fine for resisting arrest.

In 2009, Benjamin pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. In 2008, two assault charges were dismissed.