Former JCPS resource officer on trial for assault

Jonathan Hardin (Source: WAVE 3 News archives)

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - A former LMPD officer who worked as a JCPS school resource officer is on trial, charged with assault and wanton endangerment.

Jonathan Hardin is accused of using a choke hold on a 13-year-old student at Olmsted Academy North in 2015.

The incident was caught on surveillance video. The video shows a student, who was a football player, bump his shoulder into Hardin, who then lifts the student off the ground by his neck for six seconds, before releasing him. The video also shows the student fall to the ground, unconscious. When the boy woke up, his vision was blurry. The student suffered a brain injury due to the assault.

On Tuesday, that student took the stand.

"I considered us as buddies, as friends," that student, who WAVE 3 News is not identifying, said in court.

When the prosecutor asked the student what happened, the student told the court he bumped Hardin hard enough to knock him to the ground, but didn't actually mean to make Hardin fall.

The boy, now 17, testified he was surprised by his strength, but could see officer Hardin was upset. He said when Hardin put him in a choke hold, he tapped Hardin to stop and to let him go.

"What did he do after you tapped his shoulder?" the prosecutor asked in court on Wednesday.

"He didn't do nothing he just kept choking me," said the student

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In cross examination, Hardin's attorney Brian Butler, noted the video, indicated the teen appeared to have a friend get Hardin's attention so he could knock him over. The teen said that didn't happen.

Prosecution strangulation expert Dr. Bill Smock testified about brain damage, and what can happen when someone is choked and rendered unconscious. He said that act takes 6.8 seconds for an adult male to lose consciousness.

He referred to the video timeline, suggesting the time marks show the choke hold was longer than 6.8 seconds

"That 20 second mark was the time when Mr. Hardin put his arm around [the student's] neck and 27 second mark, which would be 7 seconds later, his feet are now dangling and unconscious," said Dr. Smock.

Six days after Hardin is accused of assault, Dr. Smock examined the student. Smock says he could still see hemorrhages on blood vessels on the back of his throat.