The Gestapo Sheriff of Portage County
Local Law teams up with ICE.
Kent State University has it’s notoriety because kids were shot by the National Guard out in the open. Afterward, the need for the event to be documented and remembered was pushed forward by the survivors, families of the slain, and student organizers that rose up to follow the convictions of their friends. The administration at the time tried to bury May 4th with the Woodshed and paved over the grass where student bodies had caught bullets. Currently it’s a parking lot, there’s a memorial pole.
You cannot be from Northeast Ohio, without knowing an elder who was somehow affected by this act of State violence against students. For me it is my grandma who was locked in a gas station across the street by the clerk who heard guns pop, and my first farm mentor whose father was shot at the protest but lived. She was born that same day.
I was at Kent State from 2014-2016, and in the tradition of many students got involved in various political clubs and groups. When I got back to college, Black Lives Matter was kicking off again post-Ferguson, for our particular student body, it was the violent death of Tamir Rice in Cleveland that motivated many. Samaria Rice, his mother came to speak at one of the May 4th events held yearly on campus. By the end of my studies there, Standing Rock and the Intifada in Palestine were both going on. Existing in my universe with opposite motivations, was Kaitlin Bennett “Gun Girl,” and her club Turning Point USA. They did silly shit like had a free speech zone with diapered, pale bodied college men and invited Proud Boys to march on campus. All of these events cycled through state and sometimes even national news. Kent State is a small university. Perhaps even insignificant if it weren’t for the State provoked massacre. Now the college is a target of conservative scrutiny whenever it’s convenient.
Mostly ignored outside of that.
Students of Color, especially those of us who participated in Black United Students were informed early on that campus, town, and Portage county pigs were separate beasts. The university itself could be weak when it comes to the actual application of its “liberal arts” valued, but they don’t fuck around with possible violence towards students. The pigs, however, built their new police station on the corner right next to campus, watching and probably waiting to racial profile students off campus. Generally useless. The only thing that motivates Portage Swine is picking on college students. Going to them for help only gets you laughed at.
It is a place I know well, it’s a place I understand, and find to be deeply haunting on a personal level. In no small part due to the ineffectual, yet vicious nature of the local pigs.
Bruce Zuchowski is Portage County’s Sheriff. And he spends every waking moment of his life foaming at the mouth to do violence. In an establish able, and recent timeline we can find Zucho needing to show his racist ass at every opportunity.
Ø On July 24th, 2021, on official letterhead he wrote about how mad he was that Cleveland was changing their name to the Guardians. After years of sustained protesting the team changed its name for the fifth time, dropping Chief Wahoo from their merchandise and moving into the modern era. Bruce hated it and had to write the letter- even though he stopped watching sports in protest of something, three years before this change.
Ø July 2023, Zuchowski was caught using inmate labor for his campaigning events.
Ø Dec 2023, Portage County sheriffs begin the harassment and stalking of female officer Brothers. A court case is currently underway, and under reported.
Ø Sometime between Aug-Sept of 2024, the Zuch has a strangely Proud Boy adjacent emblem made.
“FAFO” etched in metal, could be an accident. I doubt it.
Ø Sept 2024 Portage County Sheriff’s Department sued for false drug trafficking charges brought against Zephaniah Robinson and Jack Metcalf.
Ø Sept 13th, 2024, Bruce Zuchowski posts on his social media, telling people to record and report their neighbors who have Kamala Harris signs in their yards. All in response to the false accusations made about the Haitian community in Springfield Ohio, 4 hours away from Ravenna. Took his post down to avoid repercussions.
o Issued a statement afterward also on Facebook saying he was misinterpreted and that he is a “law man not a politician”
Ø Nov 2024, Zuchowski begins releasing people from jails on unassigned days(when arranged rides aren’t prepared) , then having his officers drive and leave them out at night in the cold.
Ø January 2nd, 2025, Zuchowski hires Daniel Lajack, a former DEA agent under federal investigation for beating up a Black man while off duty.
Ø Today April 14th, 2025, Portage County, Bruce enthusiastically signs contract partnering with ICE.
Right about now you may have wondered why I started with stories about Kent State and the May 4th event. I must now inform you that the majority of immigrants in Portage county are students. We have no migrant farm workers in our specific county, those folks are largely bussed up from the border to have their labor exploited in Stark county. There are very few people who immigrate to the area unless they are attending Kent State or NEOMED.
I focused on the Sheriff because as the head of this police department, he sets the local police culture. It is ugly. I could not compile a comprehensive timeline of all the various complaints, violence, and lawsuits. I pulled together what I saw as the best examples of a trend in behavior, a trend that, like all abusive relationships- is escalating.
Bruce Zuchowski has now been given license to unleash his cruel nature on young people. At a historically liberal campus, in the name of The Law. In my opinion, this man would fire into a crowd with glee.
Eyes need to be on Kent State University and NEOMED.
Kent Sources
· https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/emaoconnor/kent-state-boulder-battle#.pqmKWRJ99d
Portage County Sheriff’s Department Sources
· https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/ohio-sheriff-kamala-harris-yard-signs-rcna172572
· https://www.wkyc.com/article/news/local/portage-county/portage-county-sheriff-defends-comments-kamala-harris-supporters/95-fb20ce58-017b-4c72-a1da-ddf510e336ad